Heart of Fire
by MasterGhandalf
Summary: A year after the Comet, a charismatic leader has united rogue elements of the Fire Nation and seeks to begin the war anew. The only person who can stop him is... Azula?
1. Prologue: Lost Girl

**Heart of Fire**

**Prologue: Lost Girl**

_I am Azula. _

_The name is the one light in the darkness around me. Everything else is empty, cold, chaotic, but my name warms me and drives away the shadows… I am drawn to its flame. It is all I have left. I am Azula._

_I remember things, sometimes. I see mother looking down at me with pity in her eyes- how dare she pity me- no mother, don't leave, I didn't mean it!- and then she is gone. Maybe I drove her away. I don't know. _

_I see my brother. He is a small boy looking at a knife that Uncle gave him- no, he is older, and Father looms over him while he weeps- no, he is a man and he is looking down at me while I am lying on the ground in chains (no, no, don't think about that!)_

_I see Father. He is regal, kingly, masterful, my ruler, my mentor. All I want is to make him proud… no, don't leave me here, it was my idea, you can't treat me like I'm not important, you can't treat me like Zuko! (who?) _

_I see my friends. We go to school together, we serve our nation together, what, why are you betraying me don't you see that this is the only way he's a traitor you're all traitors no no don't leave me alone…_

_I see my nation. It is the greatest empire the world has ever seen. One day it will rule the world, and I will rule it. It is everything my life has been leading up to. It is my destiny. And it is snatched away from me and I am being carted away and left to rot in a cell just like father, and they come around and feed me and clean me but I don't react. _

_I can't react anymore. They aren't real, are they? I am a princess, not a prisoner, this is all just a dream and I'll close my eyes and when I wake up I'll be in my bed and the servants will be asking me what I want for breakfast…_

_But there are no servants. There isn't anybody here, in the dark. I chased them all away and now they won't come back and I'm all alone in the dark and the cold where all the fires have gone out…_

_I am Azula. I am Azula. I am…. _


	2. Chapter 1: The Renegade

**Chapter 1- The Renegade**

Fire Lord Zuko sighed deeply as he prepared himself for one of the most unpleasant activities on a schedule that seemed, lately, to be full of nothing but problems- his weekly visit to the mental hospital that housed his sister.

Had it been up to Zuko, of course, Azula would have been locked away in the deepest prison cell in the Fire Nation and promptly forgotten, rather than placed in the determined care of some of the most skilled healers in the Capital, but the decision had been taken out of his hands. Aang had launched into a passionate explanation of how the Air Nomads viewed all life as sacred and even an enemy should be shown mercy (it really was amazing the way he could be truly silly one moment and deeply philosophical the next. It probably, Zuko thought, was an Avatar thing.) Then, if that wasn't enough, Uncle had joined in. Of course, when the savior of the world and the man who'd been a true father to him teamed up, Zuko found it quite difficult to say no. And so Azula was now being housed quite comfortably and given round-the-clock care, as well as round-the-clock guards.

The guards, though, seemed to have become a wasted precaution. Azula had been raving mad when she was finally brought down, weeping one moment, laughing maniacally the next, and generally shrieking death-threats at any living thing (plus a few inanimate objects) in the vicinity. According to the healers, though, she had gradually quieted during her first night in their care, ultimately falling into a fitful sleep. When she finally awoke, her mind seemed all but gone. The deposed princess now sat perfectly still for day after day, staring off into the distance and ignoring everything in her immediate environment. She allowed the healers to feed and bathe her, but otherwise it was as if she was hardly aware that her surroundings existed.

"Her mind is still there," the chief healer had informed Zuko sadly. "She is plagued by horrible dreams while asleep, but her waking mind has completely withdrawn. We are sorry to say that we don't know how to reach her."

"Will she ever recover?" Zuko asked, torn between basic decency and the knowledge that it would be best for all concerned if Azula never recovered.

"I can't say, my Lord," the healer said, shaking her head. "Your sister will come back when she wills it, and not a moment before."

That exchange had happened a month following the arrival of Sozin's Comet and the downfall of Fire Lord Ozai. It was now almost a year since that fateful day and Azula showed no sign of returning to the world of the living.

None of that made Zuko any happier to be going to see her. Seeing as the last time she had been fully conscious Azula had been doing her best to send her brother to meet their ancestors rather prematurely, the young Fire Lord felt that he could be forgiven a certain lack of familial affection. Apparently his unease was showing on his face, though, because as the royal carriage rounded the last bend along the winding path to the hospital Mai turned to him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, Zuko," she said in a voice that managed to convey concern without ever changing its tone. "It's not like you're going to have an Agni Ki with her again."

"I know. I'm just… not looking forward to this."

Mai nodded, seeming to understand completely. Neither the Fire Lord nor his betrothed spoke again until the carriage rolled to the stop and a servant stepped forward to hold the door open.

Chief Healer Chinatsu, a kindly old woman in pale red robes, was waiting for them at the entrance. "Good day Your Majesty, My Lady," she said with as much of a bow as her stiff joints would permit. "I trust your journey went well?"

"It did," Zuko replied. "Now, I would like to see my sister." _And get this over with,_ he silently added.

Chinatsu led them into the building and down a long corridor lined with rooms containing patients in various states of mental instability. At last near the corridor's end they came to a single unmarked door. The healer hunted about in her robes for several moments and at last withdrew a silver key which she placed in the lock. After another moment of fiddling the door clicked and Chinatsu pushed it open.

The room beyond was comfortable, though plain. The walls and ceiling were white and unadorned, and the only pieces of furniture were a table on which sat a bowl of soup and a teacup, a small bed in one corner, and a chair. On the chair sat Azula.

Zuko's sister looked much as she had for the several months he'd been visiting. She was dressed in plain clothing reminiscent of what Fire Nation prisoners wore, albeit far better made, and her hair, while neatly combed, was not done up in the elaborate styling the princess had once preferred. She sat perfectly still, hands crossed in her lap, and showed absolutely no sign that she was aware she had visitors.

Perhaps most disturbing of all to anyone who had encountered Princess Azula before her downfall were her eyes. Once they had been bright and penetrating, golden as a messenger hawk's and twice as predatory. Now, though, the life seemed to have left those eyes and they stared uncomprehendingly at a spot just to the left of Zuko's head.

"So there's been no improvement?" Zuko asked the healer after a long silence.

"None, Majesty," she said, shaking her head sadly as she often dead. "As I told you before- her ailment is her own, and only she can break it."

"I don't get it, Azula," Zuko said, though addressing his sister now was rather pointless as she did not seem to comprehend any known language. "You were always, I don't know, so _alive_, so _determined_, even at your worst. I'm standing right here, the person you want dead the most in the whole world, but you can't even register me enough to spit at me. I always thought that if something like this ever happened, Azula, you'd at least have the decency to go out fighting. I guess I was wrong."

"It's no use, Zuko," Mai said, looking at her former friend with her usual inscrutable expression. "The smoke's still there, but the fire's gone out."

The royal couple remained in the room for some time more, attempting- and failing- to engage Azula in conversation. At long last Zuko and Mai seemed to decide that she was a lost cause and left the deposed princess to herself. As the two left the room, Healer Chinatsu turned to look back inside before she shut the door- and saw, for just a moment, a flicker of gold. Had Azula just blinked? Chinatsu couldn't be sure with her failing vision, so when the princess reacted no further she simply shut the door. It must, the healer decided, have simply been a trick of the light.

#############

It was greatly to Vasuman's surprise when his son called him to the front of the inn and he saw the war rhinos gathering in the village square.

It wasn't the creatures themselves that put the innkeeper on edge- he'd seen hundreds of the things during his days as a soldier in Ozai's vast war machine- but rather the fact that they bore armored riders upon their backs. The war had been over for a year now, and gone were the days when the army could lord it over the common folk as if the whole Fire Nation belonged to them. The new Fire Lord was a man of particularly strict opinions about such things.

Vasuman, at least, was simply glade that it was all over. As a young man he'd been conscripted into the Fire Lord's forces and been dragged all over the Earth Kingdom by officers who seemed to think that their sole purpose in existence was coming up with inventive ways to get the men under their command killed. Finally his leg had been injured in the siege of Ba Sing Se, and so he'd been sent home with honor and some meager pay, free to marry and inherit the family inn. His greatest concern had been for when his young son would grow old enough that he too would be forced into the pointless war, but now at last that was over. Vasuman could raise his family in peace.

One of the rhinos marched up to the front of the inn, and its rider, a huge man wearing the fearsome skull-mask of an elite firebender, leapt to the ground and strode forward.

"People of the Fire Nation!" he called in a deep voice, "the guardians of your homeland have need of your aid. You will give us all the supplies in this village save for those necessary for your immediate survival, and you will also agree to board us for the night. Afterwards we shall leave you in peace, secure in the knowledge that you have helped your Nation prosper."

Vasuman stepped out of the inn and limped forward until he was face to face with the firebending giant. "Your time is past, brute," he snarled. "The war is over and you have no right to steal from us what we won by our own hard labor. When the Fire Lord hears of this you will all regret coming here-"

Vasuman would have said more, but he was cut off abruptly as the huge man seized him by the throat and hoisted him one handed into the air. "Traitor!" the firebender boomed. "Behold, citizens, the fate of those who defy us!" The man held his other hand out and a ball of fire formed in his palm. Vasuman suppressed a shudder, not wanting his family to see him end like this but determined to meet his death with dignity.

"Enough!" a commanding voice cut across the square. "Put the civilian down, Colonel. I wish to speak with him."

"As you command, Lord General," the brute replied, and then roughly dropped Vasuman to the ground. The innkeeper staggered to his feet and faced the direction from which the voice had come. The rhinos were shifting and a man was striding between them, almost as tall as the colonel but far more slender, dressed in ornate armor such as only the highest officers wore. Perhaps he really was a general, and not just some self-promoted bandit.

And then Vasuman saw his eyes, and all doubt left him. He had only seen such eyes once before in his life, on the face of a soldier so maddened by battle-rage that he no longer cared whether he lived or died. This general's eyes were like that in their intensity, but behind the feverish light lurked an intellect far superior to the long ago maddened warrior. Vasuman knew suddenly that although he had been on battlefields for a good portion of his life, he had never been in more danger than he was right now.

The general moved forward slowly with a nonchalant ease reminiscent of how great cats were supposed to look when stalking their prey. He looked Vasuman up and down, those fierce eyes seeming to take everything in, and then he smiled. "You are a brave man, innkeeper," he said, "and from that and your limp I guess that you were a soldier wounded on the front. Am I correct?"

"What of it?"

"I have a vision, innkeeper," the general said softly, "a vision of a world where the Fire Nation is restored to its glory. Our Lord now is but a child, and he is weak-willed, sacrificing our pride in the name of the phantom called 'peace'. But I shall restore what he has taken and deliver the throne to one who shall guide us to heights undreamt of even by Sozin himself! But I have few men, and I could do with such spirit as you have shown. I sense that you are a respected man in this community, and I so prefer cooperation to coercion. Will you join me, and your village with you?"

Vasuman stared into those mad eyes for a long while, and then he laughed. "I served under General Iroh at Ba Sing Se. I only met him once, but I know one thing- he is twice the leader your kind will ever be. So I'm sorry if I don't take you up on your offer- I've got a business to run."

"Reconsider, I beg you!" the general said. "This is your last chance!"

Vasuman named a particularly unpleasant portion of the Spirit World, and suggested that the general and his men could remove themselves to that location.

"As you wish, but remember- it did not have to be this way!" Quick as a dragon the general lashed out, a thin whip of fire shooting from his hand and striking Vasuman's uninjured leg. The innkeeper collapsed, and looked up to see the general standing over him. His prey now immobilized, however, the man seemed to have forgotten him.

"Ransack the village!" he ordered. "Take everything you think we might need, and burn the rest. If anyone resists- then they have proclaimed their allegiance. We have no mercy for traitors."


	3. Chapter 2: The Spirit of the Flames

**Chapter 2- the Spirit of the Flames**

There was a time when the flames that surrounded the Fire Lord's throne had blazed so high that nothing could be seen of the royal personage save for an inhuman shadow looming ominously over the chamber. Fire Lord Ozai in particular had made good use of this, wrapping himself in fire so completely that when he spoke, it sounded like flame itself given voice.

Under Zuko, however, the flames had withdrawn. Though he still lit them as a reminder of his skill in the firebending arts, the new Fire Lord wanted his subjects to see him as _himself_, not as some fearsome god-king to be avoided or appeased. Zuko was many things, but something he most definitely was no was his father.

But now, as he sat in the seat that had been Ozai's before him, Zuko thought darkly that there were plenty of others who would be more than willing to carry out the Phoenix King's legacy.

"This is the third raid that has been reported to us in the last month, Majesty," General Akai, representative of the reduced Fire Nation military, was saying. "Though there may well have been more that left no villagers in condition to report their experiences. It happened largely the same as the others- a group of armed men entered the village, declaring themselves to be soldiers of the Fire Nation and demanding supplies. When they were denied, they simply took what they desired and cut down any villagers who stood in their way."

"Have you done _anything_ to stop these attacks, General?" Zuko demanded angrily. His father's defeat was supposed to have put an end to this, by Agni!

Akai visibly paled, but stood his ground. "There is little we can do, Majesty. The attacks are random, and we do not know where the renegades are based. We cannot garrison every village in the Fire Nation!"

Zuko sighed. "Do you have any leads at all on who is behind this?"

"The report from the latest raid spoke of their leader, a man who was called 'Lord General' and led a team of rhinos. But none of the surviving witnesses were able to get a close enough look at the man to describe him, other than the fact that he was very tall and wore ornate armor. He might be one of the generals who fled after you took the throne, or he could have simply given himself the title."

"So you're telling me you have nothing?"

Akai inclined his head. "I am sorry, Majesty. It shames me that I can provide no further aid, though I promise you that I shall redouble my efforts to capture these renegades and bring them to justice."

"I have faith in your abilities, General," Zuko said, and that was the truth. Akai was a competent soldier and a man of honor, both qualities that Uncle had vouched for (as well as his taste in tea). He just wasn't prepared to deal with these kinds of hit-and-run tactics, especially not from his own people. "You are dismissed." Akai bowed to his sovereign and departed.

As soon as the general was gone, Zuko snarled in anger. Extinguishing the flames around his throne, he swept through the door to his private quarters. Mai was waiting for him there.

"No luck?" She asked when she saw his expression.

"Nothing. We still don't know where the renegades are coming from, who their leader is, or how to stop them." The Fire Lord shook his head. "I thought that defeating my father would be the difficult part and that after the war was over it would all be so much easier. But ruling a nation is a lot easier on paper than it is in person."

Mai stepped forward and put a hand on Zuko's shoulder- the cold-seeming young woman's equivalent of a fierce embrace. "At least it's not your father or Azula running amok out there," she said.

"It would almost be easier if it were," Zuko said. "At least I know how they think. I don't know anything about this 'Lord General' who's leading the raiders."

"You probably met him at one of those war meetings," Mai pointed out. "If he really was a general, he would have been there."

"But I don't know which one- and any of my father's pet lunatics is as dangerous as they come."

Mai pulled back and looked Zuko in the eye. "Aren't I supposed to be the gloomy one?" she asked. "I'm sure you'll figure something out- and besides, you have something that Fire Lord Ozai never did."

"What's that?"

"You have the Avatar _and_ the Dragon of the West on your side." She smiled her slight, rare smile. "Between them and us, I think that the Nation is safe."

Zuko put an arm around Mai's shoulders. "I hope you're right."

#############

The origins of the Obsidian Citadel had long ago passed into legend. Exactly who constructed the great fortress of shimmering volcanic rock, and for what purpose, was not recorded in any of the histories of the Fire Nation, though peasants whispered that it had not been made be human hands. Serious scholars scoffed at such notions, of course- but they kept their distance from the Citadel nonetheless. There was something unnatural about the place.

Colonel Ki Mong, second-in-command of the Army of the Rising Flame, kept the old legend in mind as he stared up at the black spires that rose like the claws of some abominable spirit from the mountainside. "Is this wise, Lord General?" he asked the man sitting on the rhino next to him. "Do not think that I doubt your judgment, but give me the order, and I shall leave this place with no regrets!"

"Fear not, Colonel," the Lord General said. "The legend serves us, now. No one dares approach within miles of this 'accursed' place, and so it shall be the perfect hiding place for our forces until we are strong enough to challenge the false Fire Lord for his stolen throne."

Ki Mong bowed his head. "As you command," he murmured, and then raised his voice to address the column that stretched out on the path behind them. "Do not fear the legends of this place! Are we not warriors of the Fire Nation, most fearsome war machine this world has ever known? Shall we cower before ghosts? No! We shall make this citadel our own, and we shall make it a cursed place for our enemies!"

Turning back to face the citadel, Ki Mong motioned his rhino forward, the Lord General's keeping pace at his side and the other soldiers' following a respectful distance behind. As they approached the ancient fortress, the colonel allowed his mind to travel back into the past, to his meeting with the Lord General- to the place where it had all begun…

During the war, Ki Mong had been a decorated warrior of Fire Lord Ozai's cavalry, known for his skill and ruthlessness. Then, on the day of the Comet- the day that should have been Ozai's glorious triumph over the lesser nations- it had all come crashing down. The Avatar, presumed dead, had brought the Fire Lord to his knees, and Ozai's treacherous son had usurped the throne that should have been his sister's. When he had heard the terrible news, Ki Mong had deserted the Fire Nation army and made his living as a bandit.

For a month he had stalked the back ways of the Fire Nation, stealing enough to live by but feeling a void in his soul. As a soldier his life had _purpose_- now, though, he merely survived. And then, one storm-tossed night, the lone traveler he had thought to be an easy mark had defeated him in single combat- seemingly without even trying. Then Ki Mong saw the man's face illuminated by a flash of lightning, and he knew that he had found purpose again.

His intended victim was General Azun, a distant cousin of the royal family and one of the most important leaders of the Fire Nation army. He had vanished following the Day of the Comet, but now Ki Mong had found him again, alone in the wilderness. The former soldier bowed in the mud and begged forgiveness for his offense.

Azun had stared down at him for several minutes, and then he began to speak. He told his assailant of how, after the defeat of Ozai and his daughter, he had wandered alone for many weeks, until at last, almost dead from despair, he beheld a vision from the spirits themselves. The vision told of how the Fire Nation had become corrupt under its last two leaders, suffering from the madness of the father and the weakness of the son. But all was not lost, for the spirits had told General Azun that it was his destiny to find the true heir of Sozin and set that person upon the great leader's throne, so that they might lead the Fire Nation to untold glory.

Ki Mong had been the first convert. Soon others had followed. And now Lord General Azun commanded the Army of the Rising Flame, almost a thousand men strong, dedicated to realizing the dream that Fire Lord Sozin laid down a century ago.

#############

The Army was dispersed within the Obsidian Citadel, some subdued but most laughing and joking about how gullible they had been to take the childish stories of a haunted castle seriously. Ki Mong stood watching them, and then turned to see the Lord General standing at his shoulder.

The colonel was a huge man in every sense of the word, but his commander was almost as tall, though far more slender- he was one of the few men Ki Mong had met who could actually look him in the eye. Facing Azun now, he snapped into a rigid stance.

"The men are seeking accommodations, Lord General," he said sharply. "Save for the engineers who are fortifying the gates. No sense trusting on reputation alone to defend this citadel. Do you have any further orders?"

"You have done well, Colonel," the Lord General replied. "I am pleased with your work. I must retire now, to meditate and seek the guidance of the flames. I wish for you to keep watch and make sure I am not disturbed."

"As you command, Lord General," Ki Mong said. Without another word the Lord General turned and stalked into the fortress, his second-in-command following closely at his heels. At last they came to the top of the Citadel, where there was a large room with windows that overlooked the surrounding mountains. It was a grand view, Ki Mong though. Truly there was nowhere else in the world as beautiful as the Fire Nation.

The Lord General looked around and nodded, then motioned for the colonel. "Remember, I am not to be disturbed." Ki Mong nodded. "Then you may leave."

The colonel shut the door behind him and positioned himself beside it. From within the room he heard a crackle as the Lord General summoned flames, and then silence. He wasn't sure how long he stood there ,but he could see through the windows that the sky was darkening. Soon the stars were out, forming luminescent patterns in the sky. Surely that is proof that the Fire Nation is destined to rule, Ki Mong thought sleepily. Even the night sky is filled with flame…

Suddenly the colonel felt a hand on his shoulder. Realizing that he had dozed off, he spun and came face to face with the Lord General.

"I am sorry, Lord," he said. "I did not mean to sleep…"

"No matter, Colonel," Azun said. "We are all tired. Rest well tonight, my friend, for tomorrow I have a task for you."

"Whatever you desire, Lord General, I shall procure it for you or die in the attempt!"

General Azun smiled. "I do believe you would," he said. "Loyalty is all too scarce in the world, and the more precious for its rarity. But the spirit of the flames has spoken to me, Colonel. It has revealed to me at long last the identity of the one we seek- the one who alone can make Sozin's dream a reality."

"Who, Lord General?" Ki Mong asked.

"You must fetch her for me, Colonel, for she is held captive by our enemies and cannot come on her own. But once you have brought her to the Obsidian Citadel and she is proclaimed openly, the people shall flock to our banner. For Sozin's heir is, of course, none other than his own great-granddaughter- my distant cousin, the Princess Azula."


	4. Chapter 3: Abduction

**Chapter 3- Abduction**

_"It begins."_

_"Are you certain?"_

_"Absolutely. He has made his move. His pieces are all in position. It is time for him to prepare for his ultimate goal."_

_"Is this… wise, what you're doing? She is hardly the most reliable person with which to trust the fate of a nation, after all. She is too like her father."_

_"She is a true child of fire, with all the traits valued by an element that inspires its followers to greatness. She can succeed at anything she puts her mind to, have no doubt of that."_

_"I don't doubt it- that is what worries me. Greatness does not equate to goodness, my friend. I learned that long ago."_

_"Who knows that better than I? I am aware of your protests, old friend, and they have merit. But the girl is strong enough to survive what will transpire, something you could say for few others."_

_"But will she be on our side, or his?"_

_"Fire casts light and life, but it is also burning death. It is a risk that must always be taken by anyone who would bend it. She is no different from the flame with which her soul is entwined. Life or death… it is in her hands now."_

#############

Healer Chinatsu sighed as she placed the tray containing food and drink on the patient's bedside table. As head of the institution she didn't need to lower herself to such work, but she felt that this patient demanded it, both from her station and the extremity of her condition.

Azula lay in her bed- how she knew when it was time to sleep was anyone's guess, but when the sun went down the deposed princess always returned to her bed- but her rest was anything but peaceful. She was twisting and turning madly, moaning constantly. Every so often Chinatsu could pick out a word she recognized, but never enough at a time to make any sense of what tormented the princess' sleep. She was a compassionate soul, and wished that there was something she could do to help, but even the strongest sedatives had proven incapable of calming Azula's tormented mind. The cycle was unchanging- days of sitting on the chair staring at nothing, nights of horror.

Shaking her head, Chinatsu stood stiffly- it seemed to be getting harder every day!- and left the room quietly, locking the door behind her. She nodded politely to the firebender guards who stood nearby- both of whom seemed convinced that they had the most boring job on the planet- and made her way back to her office. She'd just poured herself a cup of steaming tea when the door opened and one of her apprentices stuck her head in.

"Mistress?" the girl asked softly. "There's a man out front who wants to come inside. I think he's a soldier, but I wanted to check with you before I did anything."

"You did the right thing," Chinatsu said, getting to her feet. "Now show me to this mysterious visitor."

The man at the door of the hospital was clearly a soldier- big enough for two soldiers, in fact- and he wore the fearsome skull-mask of an elite firebender. Chinatsu looked him up and down, unimpressed. She'd seen plenty of brutes like him in her time, and in her opinion they caused far more harm than they solved.

"We're closed for the night," she said in her strongest voice, hoping the man would take the hint and leave. "If you wish to bring us a patient of visit someone already in our care, you can come back in the morning."

"I apologize for disturbing you at this hour, Healer," the man said in surprisingly polite tones. "I am Colonel Ki Mong, and I have instructions from the highest authority that the Fire Lord's sister is to be released into my care."

"If Lord Zuko wants see his sister," Chinatsu snapped, "then he should come here himself. That's the order he gave me the day she was brought here- I wasn't to release her to anyone but His Majesty personally, under any circumstances."

Ki Mong seemed to smile beneath his helmet. "You misunderstand me. _This wasn't a request."_ He turned and motioned to the woods behind him- the hospital was built outside of the capital, as some of the patients didn't do well in city environments- and several more soldiers joined him. The huge colonel shoved his way through the door, past the protesting Chinatsu, and down the corridor, his men following behind him.

#############

_This is almost too easy,_ Ki Mong thought as he and his men proceeded down the main corridor, looking for the door with the Princess's name on it. Truly Zuko was a corrupt Fire Lord- the colonel could think of few worse things than wrongfully confining one's own kin to a mental institution! It was cowardly and dishonorable, and it went against everything the Fire Nation stood for.

There- the door at the end was guarded by a pair of firebenders who appeared to be engaged in some sort of chance game. Ki Mong didn't want to kill them- they were not the first fools to be duped by Zuko and the Avatar- so he raised his voice and addressed them clearly. "Hear me, brothers!" he called. "We have come to liberate the rightful heir from her unjust imprisonment. Stand down, and you can survive- we will even allow you to join our ranks!"

"You're the one who'd better stand down," one of the guards said, leaping to his feet. "We're Imperial firebenders, and-"

He never got to finish his sentence. Ki Mong leapt forward with a speed surprising in so large a man and grabbed both guards by their collars. They barely had time to register their astonishment before he bashed their heads together, knocking both unconscious. The life of two trained Imperial firebenders, corrupt as these might be, was not something to be wasted lightly.

Speaking of firebenders, Ki Mong thought as he smelled smoke behind him. He spun around and pointed angrily at one of his men, who was holding a handful of flame. "Douse that, now!" he ordered. "We don't want to burn this place down, fool. You might harm the princess."

"Of course, sir," the man said, quickly dousing his flame. Ki Mong nodded and turned to the door the traitors had been guarding. It had no name, but this must be it. The colonel tried the handle, then growled angrily when he realized the door was locked. A flying kick, though, proved most effective in remedying the problem.

Ki Mong strode through the ruined door and found himself in a small, cell-like room with a table, a chair, a bed and little else. It was the last of these that most attracted his attention, because in it lay a teenaged girl moaning in her sleep, apparently in the throes of some nightmare.

"Your highness," the colonel said softly. "I am Ki Mong, a servant of Lord General Azun. We seek to return you to your throne. Will you come with me?"

The girl- the Princess- sat up, but her eyes were vacant and staring. She didn't even seem to know that the colonel was there.

"Oh, my poor princess," Ki mong whispered. "What have they done to you? Drugs, poison? No matter. The Lord General will help you." Bending down, the huge man lightly scooped Azula up in his arms and left the room.

"Come along, men," he said as his soldiers fell into step behind him. "We're going home."

############

She was being carried.

That was the first thing she became aware of as the fog that had hung about her for so long dissipated. She was being carried in the arms of a huge man, moving quickly down plain wooden hallways. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't quite know where she was coming from.

Part of her wanted to sink away, let the man carry her wherever he wanted. It was better to let it all slip away again, so that all the horrible things that pursued her couldn't find her again. (No, don't think about that!)

But another part of her- a part that had been buried for so long- sprang to life just then. This part didn't know any better than the rest of what was going on, but it knew all too well that armored strangers couldn't mean anything good. And it decided to fight.

Twisting in the big man's arms, she hit him squarely with an elbow to the mask. Her captor stumbled back, cursing, and she dropped to the ground, landing lightly on her feet. "Grab her!" the big man shouted as he stumbled back to his feet, and for the first time she saw that there were others with him.

Her hands shot forward, and waves of blue fire shot from them. She didn't know who these people were, but they were going to learn that she wasn't' just some helpless damsel to be dragged off without a fight. The men dropped into defensive stances and diverted the fire away from their own bodies, but it was all the diversion she needed. She didn't know if she could beat that many warriors, and she wasn't terribly interested in finding out.

Turning away from her captors, she bolted down the hallway- far faster than they could run in their heavy armor. The door was open at the end of the hall- how long had it been since she'd tasted fresh air- and she hurtled past a startled looking old woman, out the door, and off into the night.

#############

Ki Mong stood in front of the hospital, his helmet under one arm while his other hand nursed his bruised chin. The girl- the Princess, he corrected himself- had quite a punch.

"What are we going to do now, sir?" one of the men asked him. "Princess Azula's gone- we can't find any trace of her. And I don't think she wanted to come with us in the first place."

"We need to find her," Ki Mong rumbled. "The Lord General demands it. We will find her and set her upon her throne." He placed his helmet back upon his head. "Move out, men. We have work to do."


	5. Chapter 4: His Master's Voice

**Chapter 4- His Master's Voice**

Many years ago, the boy who would one day become Lord General Azun had been taken from his home and sent to the Royal Fire Academy for Boys, one of a pair of institutions for the highest quality learning, reserved only for the sons and daughters of royalty and high nobility. The boy Azun had hated his first day there, hated the menial tasks the students were set to perform, hated the fact that he had been taken from his family. At the end of the day, however, the boys had been led into the school's central auditorium, and the headmaster- an old and distinguished Fire Sage noted for his particularly impressive voice- had stood up and told them the tale that had set the Fire Nation onto its present, glorious course. He told them the story of Sozin.

It was not the first time that Azun had heard the story, of course, but he had never heard it told the way the headmaster did. The old man with the ringing voice spoke of how Sozin had conceived in his heart the idea of a world of peace and order, united under one banner and the benevolent guidance of the Fire Nation. He told of how Sozin's one-time friend, the Avatar, had betrayed him, for the Avatar knew that with the Fire Nation taking on the heavy mantle of rulership, he had become obsolete. The headmaster told of the final, terrible battle in which Sozin at last vanquished the Avatar, and how the great leader had ordered the attack on the Air Nomads with a heavy heart, for he knew that the Avatar must not be allowed to rise again. In the end, Sozin died an old and honored leader, secure in the knowledge that his deeds, terrible though some of them had been, had led the world to a brighter future.

At last the tale had faded, but the fire it had lit in young Azun's heart never died. He was captivated by the heroism that would prompt a man to make such sacrifices for his Nation, and he devoted himself from then on to realizing the dream that Sozin had first conceived. Peace, the old Fire Lord and the young student both knew, could not last if it flowed only from idealism. It required an iron fist to build, but in the end, the world would thank the Fire Nation.

Now, as the Army of the Rising Flame stood almost a thousand strong in the courtyard of the Obsidian Citadel, Azun looked down on them and smiled. He had brought these men and women to his cause by shear force of will, and he would hold them there by the same power. Iron determination was a gift that marked the children of the Sun, a fire of the spirit that would never go out. Azun intended to use that to his advantage.

Stepping forward, the Lord General raised his hands in a sweeping gesture, drawing all eyes to him. When he was confident he had his audience's undivided attention, Azun began to speak. "Sons and daughters of the Fire Nation," he began, imbuing his voice with power that his old headmaster would have envied, "We stand at last upon the threshold of final victory. Soon great Sozin's dream of a united world shall be fulfilled!

"You all remember what you were scant months ago. Outcasts, brigands, bandits, because you refused to bow before a treacherous Fire Lord and the dark sorceries of the Avatar! It was at Zuko's ascension that you who were loyal to the ideals of our ancestors were driven out, and you know that it was then that our glorious Nation was corrupted, that it was then that the flame of our destiny was dimmed!

"But I tell you now, that is a lie.

"The Fire Nation was corrupted long before Zuko, else we could not have lost the war. Our leaders jockeyed among themselves for power and influence, and they lost sight of our glorious cause. We should have fought not for the glory of one man, but for the glory of our empire- but our leaders forgot that. Many of you no doubt recall Admiral Zhao, who in his arrogance believed that he could lay even the spirits themselves low, and gain glory in doing so. Folly! But it was not even Zhao and his ilk that were the source of the corruption.

"We were betrayed at the height of our strength from the highest reaches of power. Who but Fire Lord Ozai himself could have derailed our glorious undertaking? I see you muttering among yourselves even now, believing that I have gone mad, or become corrupt myself. Surely, you ask, who could have known Sozin's dream better than Sozin's grandson?

"I point you to Ozai's final plan- to lay waste to the world so that none but himself might claim it, elevating himself from a royal title to a divine. Indeed, it was the madness of Ozai that led to such as Zhao gaining power, that resulted in the weakness of his son, that stirred up the Avatar against him. It was not our Nation's way. It was not Sozin's way.

"But who then, you ask, could lead the Fire Nation if not Fire Lord Ozai? Does Azun seek the throne himself? Fear not, warriors of the Rising Flame! I am a man of arms, and I desire no throne. But in my heart, I know who must sit upon the throne. Beyond that, I believe that it is no lesser power than the Sun himself, great Agni, who has spoken this to me.

"In all the darkness of the war's final days, only one royal remained true to the cause. It was she who brought down Ba Sing Se in a single day, she who should have killed the Avatar had not cruel fate intervened. She vanished from sight the day her brother stole her throne, but now she is being returned to us. Rejoice, my warriors, for our own Ki Mong is bringing to us the Princess Azula, and when she sits upon her great-grandfather's throne, at long last our destiny shall be fulfilled, and Sozin's spirit shall look down upon the Fire Nation and pronounce our work good."

The crowd raised their voices in a thunderous cheer, and Azun smiled, allowing himself to bask for a moment in the adoration of his warriors.

# # # # # # # # # # # #  
Later that evening, the Lord General stood in his private quarters, drinking idly from a steaming cup of tea one of the officers had poured for him, when he heard the call of the flames. The teacup fell from suddenly nerveless fingers and smashed on the floor, but he pain it no mind. He couldn't. Azun's whole body was being wrenched towards the fire that blazed in the grate in the corner of the room.

The general fell to his knees as he approached the flames. Looking into their depths, he could see shapes forming and dissolving, flickering forms that tugged on the edge of his mind. The moment he tried to focus on them, however, they vanished again. It was maddening, but strangely hypnotic.

Then the Voice spoke, and all other concerns were driven from his mind.

_Azun_, the voice said softly. Today it was that of a woman, low and melodious, but that was never constant. Other times it had been an old man or a child, and once something savage and inhuman. But the tone never changed, soft and compelling, but with steel underneath.

"Master," the Lord General said in a shaking voice. "I am yours to command. Tell me what I must do. Show me the revelation that will lead the Fire Nation to victory!"

_Your minion has failed, Azun._ The voice didn't sound angry, or sad, or happy. It couldn't, in fact, be said to carry any emotion at all. _The Princess escaped from him. He is not bringing her._

"But… how?" Azun asked. "From what I saw during my few meetings with my cousin, she would have jumped at the chance to assume the throne. Why would she run?"

_She does not know what your men offer her. Her mind is confused and lost. I can bring her to our side in time, but for now you must proceed without her._

"What do you mean?"

_You must seize the attention of Fire Lord Zuko. He must fix his mind upon you and you alone, so he cannot rule well. Then, when the people's neglect and anger reaches its peak, you shall present the true heir, and they shall flock to her banner._

"I dislike this," Azun said. "I do not wish to cause undo harm to the people of my own Nation- they are not my enemies-"  
_  
Do you question me? They have allied themselves with a traitor Fire Lord, and deserve nothing less than to share his fate! But I am generous, and so we shall give them a last chance to repent. They will learn that only the true heir can offer them salvation._ The flickering shapes vanished from the fire, and the pressure lifted from Azun's mind. The spirit of the flames was gone.

The Lord General, though, remained on the floor, lost in thought, for some time.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

She ran through the forests, determined at all costs to escape her pursuers. They were strong, whoever they were, but she was fit, and driven by a core of strength she barely understood besides. They would not catch her so soon.

But at last she could run no more. The girl collapsed by the side of a forest pool and panted heavily. She wanted to keep running, but her body refused. She needed air. Something about that thought struck her as deeply ironic, but she was too exhausted to wonder why.

Looking into the pool, the girl studied her reflection while she rested. Eyes that gleamed like burnished gold stared out from a pale face framed by long dark hair. Something about the hair seemed, wrong, she thought. It shouldn't hang loose like that… but when she pursued that line of thought further, she suddenly found herself lost in memory, seated on chair while hacking savagely at her hair with a pair of scissors, while a voice from the past crooned about love…

She came back to the present in a flash, gasping far harder than she had just after her run. That memory, there was something horrifying about it, but when she tried to grasp hold of it, it slipped away.

"No," she said thinly in the voice she hadn't used for months. "This can't happen to me. I'm in control here. My name is…"

She paused. In her darkness, her name had been her last refuge- she remembered that much. But now, no matter how hard she hunted in the dark recesses of her mind, she couldn't find it at all. She could still see memories- nothing in any coherent order, but she inundated by images from the past nonetheless. But her name- her name was gone.

She hunted and tore through her mind for what felt like hours, but the name did not return.


	6. Chapter 5: Lost

**Chapter 5- Lost**

Fire Lord Zuko was not having a good day.

Things had started poorly, involving an overeager merchant who had managed to talk his way into the palace by convincing several levels of officials that he had a genuine dragon hatchling to sell to the royal personage. Zuko, who had seen a pair of full-grown dragons very closely a little more than a year ago, had recognized the 'hatchling' as nothing more than an underfed alligator-serpent, and ordered the merchant and his pet removed from the premises.

From there, things became more serious, though no less annoying. A scout had returned to inform Zuko that he had found no trace of the Fire Lord's exiled mother, Lady Ursa, in the part of the Earth Kingdom he had been ordered to search. (The deposed Ozai was no help in this matter at all; he seemed to think he might still maintain some power as long as he had leverage over his son, and as a result gave maddeningly vague answers when asked where his former wife was. Just last week, Zuko had managed to get him to narrow the location down to 'within the moon's orbit'.) After the scout left, a highly perplexed General Akai entered, informing his lord that on account of a massive load of rhino-feed being delivered to an infantry rather than cavalry regiment, several of the grey behemoths had gone berserk, and were even now eating their way through the capital's main market.

Zuko had just received reports that the rhinos had been effectively contained when a breathless Imperial Firebender dashed into the throne room, violating all protocol and nearly causing a number of the attending ministers to faint, and breathlessly exclaimed that Princess Azula was missing.

And so it was that Zuko found himself standing outside the hospital where Azula had been kept, accompanied by Mai, General Akai, and the entire Royal Procession, quizzing his sister's guards over what precisely had happened, and being decidedly angry at the results.

"So, let me get this straight," the young Fire Lord said, "you were playing a game while you were on duty, and then you were ambushed by a single man, who defeated both of you without a fight?"

"Actually, he had several others with him, Majesty" one of the guards said. "Though they didn't actually do anything."

"He said his name was Ki Mong," an elderly, female voice said, and the entire gathering turned to face Healer Chinatsu. "He claimed to be a colonel, and that he had been ordered to take the princess into his care."

"Ki Mong," Zuko repeated. "That name sounds familiar, but I can't place it."

"I can, Majesty," General Akai put in. "I served with Colonel Ki Mong in the Earth Kingdom colonies. He was very skilled- and very brutal, though he was always respectful towards other soldiers. I respected his ability, though I never liked him."

"In other words, he was exactly the kind of soldier my father would have loved," Zuko said. "And he's clearly struck out on his own now. Do you think he could be behind these raids?"

"It's possible," Akai said slowly, "but I doubt it, Majesty. Ki Mong is no fool, but he's not a true leader- he doesn't have the imagination. My guess is that he was carrying out someone else's plan."

"And if that person wants anything to do with my sister, I doubt that they're friendly," Zuko finished grimly. "General, I want you to put your best men on finding Azula and Ki Mong. This peace is fragile enough- I don't want my sister spoiling it. Azula has a knack for ruining people's plans."

"Forgive me, Majesty," Chinatsu said, "I should have spoken earlier. The princess is not with the soldiers- she awoke completely for the first time in months and ran from them. I do not think they are together."

Zuko groaned. Could this situation get any worse?

"I'll put two teams on it, Majesty," Akai said after a pause.

"Good," Zuko replied. "We'll need it."

# # # # # # # # # # # #

She left the pond behind, stumbling on through the forest with no clear destination in mind. Memories assailed her, pulling at her in every direction, but they did not form any sort of cohesive order. One moment she was a little girl, laughing at her foolish older brother- the next she was once again escaping from the arms of her giant kidnapper.

And through it all, the one thing she sought most- her name- refused to come to her. This was deeply infuriating- she knew from what she had been able to piece together of her identity that people and things did not refuse her often, and when they did she was able to simply take what she wanted. That knowledge did nothing to change the fact that her name was hovering just outside of reach, and none of her mental grabs or threats would cause it to reveal itself.

Tree branches and roots tore at her shirt and her soft shoes, which had not been made for running outdoors. She was aching and tired, but she could not stop. Behind her she could see a huge volcanic crater, and she knew that it was significant, but her mind could make no sense of why. Shaking her head to clear out the excess thoughts- she'd figure out what the mountain was later, when she was safely away from it- she ran.

"We're not lost!"

Ling rolled his eyes as his sister began to root around for a map in the overlarge bag that she carried with her at all times. As the bag contained little but maps, this was a far more difficult task than it looked. Joti fancied herself an explorer (though she'd never been more than fifty miles from their home village) and prided herself on knowing the geography of the Fire Nation better than anyone else in the general vicinity. As the capital city was less than a day away, Ling somehow doubted this claim. Still, the young firebender had to admit Joti did have a more impressive map collection- and was better versed in reading them- than anyone else he had ever met.

Unfortunately, however, Joti's eccentricities sometimes got her (and anyone in the general vicinity, for that matter) in rather unique forms of trouble. Thoroughly convinced that there must be an unknown way to any destination (and that she could discover it with enough time and effort) she insisted on wandering off the accepted path whenever the siblings ventured beyond their village. And so it was that, on what should have been a routine trip to the larger market in the next town, Ling and Joti were well and thoroughly lost.

"Listen, Joti," Ling finally said, "maybe we should just retrace our steps, find our way back to the road, and then head on to market as if nothing had happened. Not every routine trip needs to be an adventure."

"Oh, you're no fun," Joti said absently as she continued searching. "Always trying to- ah! Found it!" Triumphantly she held out a highly detailed map of the surrounding villages. "Now then, we just need to figure out where we are, and I can find us a path that will get us to the village faster than a rhino with its tail on fire."

Ling sighed. "Joti, you're the only person in the entire Fire Nation who could literally get lost in her own backyard, you know that?"

"I told you, we're not lost," Joti said, looking up from her map. "Now, if you'll just be quiet for a moment and let me think-"

"Quiet!" Ling hissed.

"That's what I said! Now then-"

"No, I mean you be quiet," Ling snapped at her. "I heard something moving. If you get us eaten, I'm never speaking to you again."

Joti paused for a moment to consider the faulty logic of that comment- then she seemed to hear it too. A crashing sound was coming through the forest from the direction of the capital, coming straight at them. Ling dropped into a firebending stance, flames flickering around the edge of his palm. Whatever was out there, it wouldn't take him without a fight.

The crashing sound grew louder, and louder- and then, of all the things Ling's imagination had conjured up, perhaps the least likely happened. A girl of about his own age, with long black hair and golden eyes, stumbled between the trees and stopped right in front of him.

"Errr- can we help you?" he asked when the girl didn't speak for several moments.

"Help me?" the girl's voice, though rough from lack of use, had a faintly aristocratic tone about it. "Yes. There are men after me. You will distract them when they come. You must keep them from finding me."

"Now, look here," Joti piped up, an indignant look on her face. "Who do you think you are that you can just order people around like that?"

"I am-" the strange girl drew herself up, and Ling found himself impressed against his will by the aura of power she seemed to exude. Then, however, she faltered, her posture slumping and her hawklike gaze wavering. "I don't know," she said softly. Then her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

Joti bent down and grabbed one of the girl's arms. "Come on, Ling," she said. "She may have been rude, but she's exhausted and she needs help- look at her! We can't just leave her here."

"I suppose you're right," he said as he bent to help his sister lift the stranger up. _I only hope I don't come to regret this_, he thought.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

"Look, sir!" One of Ki Mong's soldiers called him over. The man held a torn piece of red cloth in one hand. "I found this on one of the trees."

"Excellent," the huge colonel said. "This is the princess's trail. Come now, men! The Lord General is depending on us! We will find her." Ki Mong hurried down the makeshift trail that Azula had inadvertently blazed, his men following close behind.


	7. Chapter 6: For the Fire Nation

**Chapter 6- For the Fire Nation**

The raid struck suddenly and without mercy. One minute, it seemed, the village was quiet and peaceful, no different from hundreds of others scattered around the western edge of the Fire Nation. Though the great war had taken some of the village's young people away, for the most part the place was too small and out-of-the-way for the Fire Lord and his generals to bother, and had lived in relative peace for decades. In the last year, those vanished sons and daughters had (save for those fallen on distant battlefields) slowly trickled home, as the new Fire Lord reduced his military and restructured it as a force for peacekeeping rather than conquest. The village seemed ready to go back to its sleepy existence without a backward glance.

In an instant, that all changed forever. Fireballs came arcing through the sky and crashed into the middle of the village square. The villagers rushed about in a panic as the elders ordered their few firebenders to control the spread of the blaze, while the ordinary citizens were quickly formed into bucket lines bringing water from a nearby stream. Before they were able to unload the contents of a single bucket, however, the rhinos came.

Two dozen of the grey beasts swept through the town, each bearing a handful of soldiers upon its back. Firebenders sent their blasts into every home and building, until the entire village seemed to become one great inferno. Those villagers who were able to escape from the flames, however, had nowhere to go but to the blades of the ordinary soldiers, who struck them down without mercy.

In the space of fifteen minutes, the village- and the more than a hundred people who called it home- had ceased to exist.

General Azun watched the carnage from a hilltop, perched on his personal war rhino. He shook his head in distaste, for he considered assaulting civilians to be cowardly, and a stain on his men's honor. Still he did nothing to stop it. This attack, like everything else Azun did, was a key part of his plan to save his nation from itself.

The man beside him- a colonel who was filling in passably for Ki Mong- had a rather different reaction to the events. Pointing at the running civilians, he laughed. "Look at them run, Lord General!" he said. "They cannot escape us, and they know it, so they run in circles like hog-chickens!"

Azun hit him.

The colonel toppled backwards off his rhino and lay on the ground, clutching his broken nose and staring up at his general with a baffled look in his eyes. Azun leaped lightly to the ground and lifted the man up by his uniform collar so they were face to face.

"Listen to me, and listen well," the Lord General growled. "What we do, we do for the good of our Nation, not our own sick gratification. Tell me, do I look like Fire Lord Ozai, to inflict suffering because I can? We do these things because we must, but we _will not_ make sport of civilian lives. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Lord General," the colonel wheezed. Azun dropped him and turned away.

"You are no longer my second," he said. "I will find another office to fill that role until Ki Mong returns with the princess." Azun swung back up onto the rhino's back and watched the village burn in silence. Finally two of his officers approached, bearing an old man between them.

"This is the chief elder of the village, sir," one of them said. "We have spared him, as you commanded."

The old man looked up at Azun and did not blink. "Butcher!" he hissed. "The spirits will not stand for this, and neither will Fire Lord Zuko. We shall be avenged upon you a hundred times before they are done. You have sealed your own doom."

Azun smiled thinly. "Perhaps," he said. "In the meantime, I have a task I require of you. You were spared that you might take a message to your false Fire Lord. Tell him that General Azun seeks an audience with him, to discuss important matters regarding our glorious nation's future- and the nature of succession. Tell him to send a hawk with his reply to the location where this village once stood. Also say that if he refuses- or if you do not deliver the message- more villages shall suffer the same fate."

Azun motioned to the officers, and they stood aside to let the old man pass. He shot a hateful glare at the general over his shoulder, and then he was gone.

"Pardon my questioning, Lord General," one of the officers said, "but do you really think that one village will be enough to raise Zuko to action?"

"It should," Azun replied. "Our young usurper prides himself on the outward forms of honor, regardless of whatever else he might be. Still, one cannot be sure- which is why we are hitting several more villages before returning to the Obsidian Citadel. An example must be made."

The officers saluted. "As you will, Lord General," they chorused.

#############

_She was sinking in deep water. She was a strong swimmer, despite (or perhaps because of) her innate distaste for the element, but there were things in the depths that clutched her ankles with slimy tentacles that were stronger than steel. Unable to free herself, she did a thing that hurt her to the core, but was still preferable to drowning- she called for help._

_Father appeared in the air above her, robes whipping in the wind, a cruel smile on his face. He watched her struggle for some time, and then shook his head. "Weakling," he whispered, and was gone. _

_Mother appeared, hovering just out of reach. The girl stretched out her hand towards her, but even as she did so Mother faded away, vanishing as if she'd never been there. _

_Her friends were there, different as day and night, both watching her with pitying eyes. She called to them to help her, but they pulled themselves away. "We can't help you," they said sadly. "You sent us away, remember?" _

_Then there was no one else, and the tentacles pulled her under the cold, dark water, down into the black depths…_

#############

She came awake suddenly, pulling herself into a sitting position and looking around. She was in a strange bed in a strange room, homier than the spare cell at the hospital, but nowhere near as lavish as the rooms that her disjointed memory told her she was used to. Wherever she was, this wasn't her home, and she had no intention of staying here any longer than she already had. She was about to swing off the bed when kind hands pushed her gently down.

"Relax," the girl she had encountered in the woods before she fainted said. "You've been sleeping for almost a day, but your body's still exhausted. Here," the girl held out a cup of water. "Drink this. It'll help. My name's Joti, by the way. My brother Ling and I brought you to our house after you passed out."

She took the cup and drank it dry almost instantly- she hadn't realized how thirsty she was! Or hungry, for that matter. This peasant home wasn't likely to have anything terribly interesting on hand, but perhaps it would be wise to avoid leaving just yet.

"Do you have any food?" she asked.

"Of course we do!" Joti said brightly (though she didn't have anything in that area compared to someone else the girl had known!). "I'll get you some." Joti turned and hurried from the room- and as she did, a slightly older boy entered. She recognized him as the other peasant from the forest. This must be Ling, she thought.

"So you're awake," he said without preamble.

The girl snorted. "Do you often state the completely obvious, or is being in my presence preventing you from forming more advanced ideas?" she asked. "Because if so, you can leave and let your sister come back. I prefer intelligent conversation."

Ling didn't rise to her bait. He knelt down beside her bed and looked her directly in the eye. "Listen," he said softly, "I'm not in the mood for games. I know you're a noble- no one else would give orders to complete strangers like that- and I know that you were exhausted earlier. But now, I want some answers. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

She arched her brow. "If I _am_ a noble, as you seem so sure of, then you have no business questioning me. But trust me when I say that I find you every bit as annoying as you find me. So give me some food and water- and some clean clothes, your sister looks about my size- and I'll be out of your life."

"Well, I'd better hope so," Ling grumbled. "But the war's over now. You nobles can't just wander around taking whatever you want anymore. So you owe us some answers before you can do whatever you want with our belongings."

The girl's eyes went wide. "The war's… over?" she asked. All her life, she knew that the war had been a constant presence, shaping the entire environment around her. She vaguely remembered fighting in several battles- something about a drill, and a monk with a blue arrow on his head- but the memories, like most of the others, failed to make cohesive sense. "Did we win?"

Ling laughed. "Well, the army lost, and old Ozai is rotting in some dungeon, but as far as we commoners are concerned, this is a change for the better. No more slaving in the factories, no more forced conscriptions- Father said he never thought the day would come. Not that I'd expect a noble like you to understand."

"I don't… believe it," she whispered. With one simple statement, this peasant boy had turned her whole world upside down. She sat with her head bowed for what seemed like an eternity, when she suddenly heard the sound of rustling paper from the doorway. Looking up, she saw Joti, bringing a tray of food- and a number of what appeared to be maps, rolled up under one arm. How she managed to carry it all was a minor miracle.

"Did I hear you saying that you didn't even know that the war was over?" Joti asked brightly. Awkwardly setting the tray down, she pulled out what appeared to be a map of the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se and its environs, and another of the western coast. "That's incredible- you must have been living somewhere very isolated to not get any news that way. But I can get you up to date. See, the final battle took place here at Ba Sing Se, while the Avatar faced the Phoenix King on the coast…" The girl soon found herself completely lost in Joti's rambling history of the last days of the war. Even though she felt certain she knew these places, Joti was simply too caught up in minute details for her account to make much sense.

Ling rolled his eyes. "Don't mind Joti," he said. "She's got this crazy obsession with maps ("hey!" his sister chimed in), and whenever something important happens she makes sure she knows exactly what exactly it was and how to find everything about it on her map collection."

The girl, however, was still reeling. The war was over, Ozai defeated and imprisoned… and more, something about hearing the Fire Lord's name was screaming at her from the back of her mind, demanding her to make some obvious connection- but it wouldn't come. This was maddening! She had brought an empire to its knees (when?), but her own mind would not obey her.

She looked up, and saw that Ling was staring at her with a concerned look on his face. His annoyance she could handle, but she would not accept concern like an equal from this- commoner. "I will admit that I've been out of touch for the last year," she said. "But what I told you in the forest is true. There are men after me, and I do not know why, but I doubt their intentions are friendly. Therefore I require that you give me food and supplies so that I can leave this place as soon as possible."

"And let these people track you here?" Ling asked. "Staying or leaving, you could put this family in danger, and I won't allow that."

"Come on, Ling," Joti said without looking up from her map of Ba Sing Se's undercity. "I'm sure I big, touch firebender like you could handle them."

"You're a firebender?" the girl asked Ling with sudden interest. Perhaps there was more to him than met the eye… "I am a firebender as well."

"Really?" Joti asked, turning from her map to face her guest. "Wow. A noble firebender's got to know all kinds of amazing moves."

"You have no idea," the girl said, remembering the blue flames that had sent her captors in retreat days ago. Perhaps these peasants might be more helpful after a demonstration, she thought grimly. She raised her hand and focused on her chi, preparing to summon a fireblast- not big enough to damage the room, but enough to impress these two with the depth of her power. She formed her hand into a fist and jabbed it forward, expecting to see the familiar blue flames shoot forth in all their glory. What she got, however, was nothing.

"So, is there a reason you just hit the air?" Joti asked, nonplussed.

"That looked like a firebending move," Ling admitted. "But something went wrong. Why wasn't there any fire?"

_Why, indeed?_ The girl asked herself angrily. Focusing her will again, she prepared to summon a ball of flames in one hand- a basic power, but she needed to prove to herself that she still could. But again, there was nothing.

It was her inner turmoil, she realized. Her spirit was broken, her identity all but lost. Until she found it again, she would never be able to firebend.

When that realization hit her she screamed in rage, a sound so primal that it sent both Ling and Joti scurrying from the room as fast as their legs could carry them. Only when the two commoners were gone and she was safely alone did she allow herself time to weep.


	8. Chapter 7: Baiting the Trap

**Chapter 7- Baiting the Trap**

When the old man had finished his story, he looked up expectantly towards the Fire Lord. Zuko's scarred face was dark with rage- rage directed not at his subject but at the one who had driven him here alone and still reeling from the destruction of his village. Zuko reserved his anger for General Azun.

"Leave us," the Fire Lord ordered. "I need time to consider this matter." The guards, the courtiers, and the old man filed from the room, the last shooting an expectant look over his shoulder at his monarch. That was the trouble with being Fire Lord, Zuko thought. Everyone expected him to have the power to make everything right.

At last the room was empty- or at least, anyone else might have thought it empty. Zuko waited patiently for a moment, and Mai stepped out from the shadowy corner where she had been standing quietly for the whole proceedings. His betrothed rarely spoke up at meetings or audiences, and she professed to find them boring, but Zuko knew full well that she took in everything around her. If an audience was of genuine importance, Mai would know- and she wouldn't miss it.

Zuko extinguished the flames around his throne and strode quickly across the floor to stand beside her. "You heard everything?" he asked unnecessarily. When Mai was there, she _always _heard. She nodded once.

"I never went to any of the war meetings when your father was Fire Lord," she said. "Is this Azun guy really a general?"

"If it's the same man, then yes," Zuko said. "He wasn't the cleverest of the old generals, or the cruelest, but I think he was the most dangerous. He was a true believer, one of the only ones. Most of the generals and war ministers did what they did because they wanted power or glory, like Zhao. Some of them were just afraid of my father. But Azun seemed to really think that the war was _right_- he believed completely that the Fire Nation should rule the world, and he was willing to do whatever was necessary to achieve that. Uncle told me that he would have been a good man if he hadn't let himself be ruled by a lie."

"I once knew someone like that," Mai said. "She was in the same class as Ty Lee, Azula and me. There was no reasoning with her- everything was 'the war this' or 'destiny that'- it was enough to make you sick. Even Azula couldn't stand her."

Zuko shook his head. "Azun's different. He's a true leader, the kind who can inspire his men to do anything, if you give him enough time. His soldiers would die for him. The only reason dad didn't think he was a threat to his rule was because he was so loyal to the throne."

"Apparently he's changed his mind," Mai said darkly.

"It must be because the war is over," Zuko replied. "He thinks I've 'betrayed destiny' or some other nonsense. But he wants to talk to me, and I have some things I'd like to say to him too. I'm not like my father, Mai- when someone kills my people, I care. And I _will_ put a stop to it."

"I don't know, Zuko," Mai said. "Maybe being around Azula made me paranoid, but I think this is a trap."

"Uncle once told me that its only a trap if you don't see it coming," Zuko said. He turned and walked the length of the hall, Mai following close behind him. The Fire Lord stepped out into the corridor and motioned for a guard.

"Majesty?" the soldier asked, going down on one knee.

"Fetch me the royal scribe," Zuko commanded. "I have a message to send."

#############

Ki Mong stood with his men and looked down at the peaceful village nestled in the valley below. There could be no doubt. The princess's trail had been joined by what appeared to be two others, and they led here. Azula was down there among these peasants. It was his task to bring her back.

"Your orders, colonel?" one of the men asked.

"This is the place," Ki Mong said. "We shall go down to the village and conduct a house to house search. The princess is not to be harmed. If anyone resists, however- you know what to do."

The men saluted, and then Ki Mong turned and led them down into the valley.

#############

Ling and Joti's father, Zhung, was a dark haired man of averaged height and build. He was a quiet man, not given to strong emotional outbursts of any kind, though his fundamentally easygoing demeanor could be read in the small smile he wore at almost all times.

He was not smiling now. As his children stumbled over each other in their attempts to explain why they had brought the young noblewoman who had even now barricaded herself in Joti's room home, Zhung's expression was serious. He was not angry, exactly- he rarely got angry, or at least rarely got angry enough to visibly show it. His expression might have best been described as darkly thoughtful.

"You did the right thing," he said finally, and both Ling and Joti appeared to breathe small sighs of relief. "Still, this may well have consequences that you haven't imagined. This girl needed help, but from what you have said she was obviously running from something. Whatever that was could follow her here, and put this whole village in danger."

"She needed help!" Joti said indignantly. "We couldn't just leave her there- no matter how rude she was."

"I know," Zhung said. "I just wanted to remind you that actions have consequences. You were placed in a difficult situation, and behaved as you thought best. That you could show kindness- even to someone who likely would not have done the same to you- is important. It is something that our nation learned too late." Zhung's voice trailed off, his eyes haunted by dark memories. Ling knew what was passing though his father's mind. Zhung had been a firebending soldier in the Fire Lord's vast army- not by choice, but by conscription. He had witnessed brutality first hand, from both sides. When the war was ended, he had resigned his position and returned home to find his wife dead and his two children almost grown.

"There's something strange about her," Ling mused to himself, his thoughts turning to the strange girl. "She has to be a noble, but she won't say what her name is. She claims to be a firedbender, but can't firebend." Ling didn't mention the look in her eyes when she had that revelation. He'd seen a look like that before, though never on a human face. It had been on a lynx-hound far gone to the foaming disease.

Zhung strolled in a seemingly casual way over to the door to Joti's room- the room where the stranger was even now holed up. He knocked on the door once.

"Leave," an irate female voice said from the other side. "I have no wish to talk to either of you."

Zhung smiled his quiet smile. "Then it is fortunate that I am neither," he said. "Though it pains me that you speak ill of those who showed you kindness- not the least because they were my children. I am Zhung, Ling and Joti's father ."

"Then I repeat to you what I told them," the voice said. "Give me food, supplies, and clothing and I will leave. I have no desire to linger here."

"I find it curious that a noblewoman would travel without these things," Zhung said casually.

"My reasons are my own, and are not your concern, peasant."

Zhung sighed and turned to Ling. "She is every bit as disagreeable as you suggested," he said lightly.

"You should have seen her when she tried to firebend," Ling replied. "Are all nobles like that?"

"No," Zhung said. "Most are a good deal worse- though I expect that she could turn quite vicious given the proper motivation." Remembering that mad-dog look in the girl's eyes, Ling had to privately agree.

"Dad, Ling!" Joti called from the window. "There's something going on outside!"

"Stay here," Zhung ordered and slipped out the door. He returned moments later, his face ashen.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Ling asked.

"Soldiers- or at least they say they're soldiers- are here looking for the girl. They're conducting a house to house search."

Joti whistled softly. "They must want her bad," she said. "Wonder what she did?"

"It doesn't matter," Zhung said. "We need to get her out of here- and the two of you, as well. You helped her, and if they find out- well, you're all I have left."

"But, dad- they're soldiers!" Ling said. "If we keep them from getting her, then that makes us criminals!"

Zhung shook his head. "I don't think these men are real soldiers, Ling. If the Fire Lord wanted someone, he'd put posters up all across the nation- get the common people in on it. Zuko is an honorable man- it's why his father couldn't stand him, I'd wager. I don't believe he would condone a search like this."

"What do we do?" Joti asked.

"Take food, take the girl, and go out the back way. I'll distract the searchers till your gone," Zhung said.

"What about you?"

Zhung smiled his quiet smile. "I think I can handle this."

#############

Ki Mong growled in frustration as he stepped out of the house, its terrified inhabitants cowering behind him. She wasn't here, and nobody seemed to know what he was talking about. None of them had seen a high-born girl, they maintained- certainly not one who bent distinctive blue fire! He suspected they were lying, but he couldn't prove it, and knew better than to try torture. He wasn't skilled in that area, and he knew full well that if you didn't perform an interrogation correctly, the victim would tell anything to make the pain stop. The last thing he needed now was a wild snowgoose chase.

"Looking for something, officer?" a mild voice asked from behind him. Ki Mong whirled to face a nondescript peasant house and the unremarkable-looking man who leaned up against its door. The man seemed calm and utterly relaxed, which put Ki Mong on edge. Anyone who could maintain his calm in this situation was someone to be watched.

"We are searching for our master's daughter," he said, giving the story he had prepared. "She is willful and often runs away from home. My men and I have been tasked to search for her." Ki Mong advanced towards the peasant man, motioning to his men to continue the search.

"My name is Zhung," the man said lightly. "I'm curious as to why you think a lord's daughter is running around a place like this."

"I tracked her here," Ki Mong said, "And I dislike that you take such an interest in my master's affairs." He strode forward till he towered over Zhung. "Now stand aside. I shall search your home next."

Zhung just smiled quietly- and then, with speed that boggled Ki Mong's mind, he struck. One hand came up faster than the eye could follow, and then a gout of yellow flame was shooting at the colonel's face. Ki Mong swept up one hand in defense and swept the flames away, staring at his opponent in anger. "You are a firebender," he growled.

"I am many things," Zhung said. "And you are a master of the obvious."

"If you are a firebender," Ki Mong said," then you are a traitor. All firebenders were drafted into the army by royal decree- but here you stand, a humble village man. You betrayed your vows, and you will pay."

"I betrayed my vows?" One of Zhung's eyebrows rose slightly. "I would think that I was the one betrayed- me and every other citizen roped into fighting a war we didn't believe in."

On one level, Ki Mong knew he was being baited. On another, however, the man's words were simply too much. He lunged forward, aiming to catch Zhung's neck in his grip, but the smaller man dodged aside. Ki Mong spun and launched a series of fireballs at him, but Zhung was able to intercept and extinguish them all. Then he returned a blast of his own- a concentrated wave of fire that blew past Ki Mong's head, heating the side of his helmet slightly. Wincing in pain, the colonel tore his helmet off and hurled it to the ground. Rage lit his dark eyes and wrote itself plain on his heavy-bearded face.

Ki Mong charged, hurling his huge body forward with a speed that few would credit in a man his size. One massive fist caught Zhung in the gut, knocking the former soldier to the ground, where he lay gasping for breath.

"I am victorious, it seems," Ki Mong said.

"No," Zhung panted. "You're just arrogant." Suddenly he swept one leg around and knocked Ki Mong's own legs out from beneath him, sending the colonel crashing to the ground beside his opponent. Slowly, both combatants pulled themselves to their feet and stood glaring at each other.

The battle was interrupted as one of Ki Mong's soldiers came running up behind him. "We've finished searching the whole village, sir," he said. "There's no sign of her."

Ki Mong glowered at Zhung. "You tricked me," he snarled.

"Perhaps," he said. "But you can't prove it. And now you're quarry is escaping- if you stay to punish me or this village, you'll lose her for sure."

Ki Mong walked over and picked up his helmet. "You are a frustrating man, but for now you are correct. One day I will return to this place, however. Then you will pay for what you have done." He jammed the helmet down on his head and turned and led his men out of the village. Zhung looked at them go, and smiled.

"And when you return, Ki Mong," he whispered, "you will meet the same welcome you did this time."

#############

Ling stood on a hill with Joti and the strange girl, looking down at the village below them. They could see the soldiers moving about like insects, even from this height- and then, flashes of fire.

"Dad, do you think?" Joti asked. She was shivering, although it wasn't cold, and held her bag of maps protectively close.

"It must be," Ling said. "He's doing this for us. We have to get away from here, and then take Lady High-and-Mighty wherever she's going. Come on." He turned, and Joti followed after, but the other girl stood still on the ridge, watching the bending duel below. Her golden eyes seemed to catch the fire and reflect it back, and written plain on her face was a hunger to great to be described.

"Are you coming?" Ling asked. The girl shook, seemed to rouse herself from a trance.

"Yes," she said. "I am coming."


	9. Chapter 8: Yujin

**Chapter 8- Yujin**

Shapes that no human thought had ever conceived danced amid the flames. They came and went, flickering in and out of focus as Azun knelt before the fire in his hearth and stared into their depths. The Lord General was smiling the smile of a hunter who is closing in upon his prey after a long chase. The cause of his joy was a letter that was curled up even now in one hand.

"I have done it, Master," he whispered to the fire. "The false Fire Lord comes to me. We shall meet three days from now upon the ashes of the first village that I destroyed to gain his attention. He believes that he comes to force me to pay for my crimes, but in truth _I_ shall be the arbiter of justice there. When he comes, he shall be mine."

_You have done well, my servant,_ the Voice replied. Tonight it was deep and resonant, the voice of a great leader or statesman. _But Zuko has faced powerful foes before you and triumphed. What makes you think you can avoid their fate?_

"I have planned this moment since you first came to me, Master," Azun said reverently. "When I was a young officer serving in the Earth Kingdom, my men and I discovered a great secret- a way by which even the mightiest bender or most cunning warrior can be laid low. We swore a pact that it should remain secret until the ultimate time of need. With my weapon I can defeat Zuko and all who are with him, and bring him here, where he shall be my prisoner."

_Perhaps it would be wiser to kill him outright. Prisoners have a way of escaping._ For the first time, Azun thought he caught a hint of wry humor in the Voice.

"The royal family is blood kin to me," the general said. "I shall not lower myself to killing my own family. Zuko will remain here to witness the true heir's assumption of the throne. Then, when he knows once and for all that he has failed, the new Fire Lord may do with her brother as she wishes."

_Very well. You have my blessing in this, General Azun. But remember this- when the Fire Nation is risen again and the true heir sits the throne, do not forget that it was with my guidance that this was accomplished._ The Voice fell silent, and the writing images vanished from the flames.

Azun was always drained after speaking with his spirit benefactor, but tonight he had one more thing to do before he could find rest. Striding to the door of his chambers, the Lord General opened it and motioned for his guards.

"Fetch me Lieutenant Xin," he said, naming a soldier known for his skill in herblore. "Tell him that I must see him immediately. Great events are in motion, and there is something that he must do."

#############

One of the drawbacks of being Fire Lord- or any powerful monarch, really- was that one couldn't go anywhere without a massive escort. Today, this was doubly true for Zuko as he was borne through the capital city on a litter (half the court would have fainted dead away at the mere suggestion that he walk), for he was leaving to meet with the renegade general who had masterminded the raids that plagued the southwestern provinces over recent months. The people, seemingly determined to give their popular young ruler a confidence boost as he went to face the first true threat of his reign, had turned out in droves to watch the Royal Procession wind its way through the city's streets.

Mai could have told them that it was pointless- Zuko had faced dozens of threats prior to assuming the throne, and the fact that he was still alive ought to be a pretty strong indicator that he could handle them. Not that they would be likely to listen to her, in any case. The vast majority of the populace seemed to think that the Fire Lord ought to wed some cheerful, charismatic beauty, rather than the strange, silent girl who followed him like a shadow.

Mai, for her part, had little use for the cheerful, charismatic beauties of the court, and she knew full well that the feeling was mutual. Immediately after Zuko had taken his place on the Fire Nation throne, he had been swarmed by beautiful young noblewomen and their ambitious mothers and fathers, all tripping over themselves to flatter or bribe him into a marriage. They might have been somewhat more successful had the Fire Lord not already been in a politically sound (and genuinely loving) relationship, both members of which remembered full well how these same people had once mocked their scarred and exiled prince.

Now half the city had turned out to watch Zuko's procession and Mai walked behind the royal litter at the head of a large band of those same bright, cheery, insufferably annoying court maidens. She could have ridden in a litter of her own, had she wanted one, but she preferred to walk so that she could actually see what was going on in the crowds. An assassination attempt on Zuko wasn't likely, but Mai considered herself to be her betrothed's last line of defense- just in case. Maybe being around Azula so long _had_ made her paranoid.

Finally the procession came to its end at the edge of the city where a steam-driven transport not so different in principle- though far more ornate- than the one that Mai had once used along with Azula and Ty Lee to track the Avatar awaited. This was the Fire Lord's personal transport for use within the Fire Nation, and it would take Zuko and his entourage to meet with General Azun.

The bearers set the litter down and Zuko stepped out, robes blowing in the wind. Mai quickly walked over to stand next to him, shooting a look as sharp as one of her knives at a guard who appeared about to interrupt. "Anything interesting happen out there?" Zuko asked her softly.

"Unless you count being screamed at by a giant crowd," Mai replied in her usual toneless voice. "I hope the people find something better to do than follow you around all the time soon. I can see why your father never left the palace."

"Father never left the palace because he didn't want to expose himself to danger unless he knew he could handle it," Zuko said, an edge to his voice. "I don't think the crowds _wanted _to follow him."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Mai asked. Zuko smiled slightly, and then, nodding to the guards, stepped into the Royal Transport, Mai following close behind. The couple seated themselves on the padded seats inside as the guards slid the doors shut.

"So do you have a plan?" Mai asked when the door slammed shut and the guards could no longer hear.

"Yes," Zuko said. "When we get there, I'm going out to talk to Azun with a squad of Imperial Firebenders as bodyguards."

"Me, too," Mai put in. "If you think you're going to face this guy alone, then you clearly haven't been paying attention."

"Actually, Mai, I was thinking of a different job for you."

"What's that?" Mai asked, eyebrow raised. Zuko looked at her straight on and smiled.

"Secret weapon," he said.

#############

Ling, Joti, and the noble girl walked for hours, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the soldiers who had invaded their village. At last, when the sky had begun to grow dark, Ling called a halt.

"We're not getting any farther today," he said simply, "and I think that we've put enough ground between us and those maniacs. We'll stop here, and take Her Ladyship wherever she's going tomorrow."

"Who put you in charge?" Joti asked indignantly. "I'm the one with the maps around here."

"I'm the oldest and I'm the firebender," Ling replied, "so unless she," he glanced over at the girl, "has any objections, I'll be the one calling the shots."

"Very well," the strange girl said, speaking up for the first time since they left the village. "You make sense. You have my permission to stop." Without preamble she sat against a tree and closed her eyes. Whether sleeping or meditating Ling couldn't tell, and didn't particularly want to. Either way, she looked to be out of his hair for the time being, which could only be a good thing.

The sun had gone down completely by the time that Ling had gathered enough wood to keep a good-sized fire going. Lighting it with his bending, he sat down near the glow and pulled some sausages from his pack. Handing half to Joti and half to himself, he quickly began to eat.

He tried not to think about the village. He didn't know if the soldiers had burned the place down, or if Dad was alive or dead. Whenever he stopped working and had time to think, the worries came back in full force. On one hand, he was fully convinced that his father was invincible, one of the greatest firebenders the land had ever seen. On the other hand, a part of him whispered that there must be far greater warriors and benders out there, and the one of the invading soldiers may well have been one of them.

Ling was pulled out of his dark thoughts by Joti poking his arm. "What is it?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"Shouldn't we give her some?" she asked, looking at the sausage and then motioning across the fire to where the noble girl sat.

"Probably crude compared to what she's used to," Ling said. "But, I guess we'd better. Hey!" he said in a raised voice, "you want some of these?"

"I am not hungry," the girl said. She was sitting beside the fire with her legs crossed, staring into its depths as if searching for something precious that she had lost. Ling guessed it had something to do with her bending, but he didn't know beyond that, and was wiser than to try and pry. He had the distinct feeling that she wouldn't take well to that at all.

"Listen," he said, "you have to eat. You didn't eat anything at the house, and you said you didn't know how long you'd been on the run before that. You need food."

She raised her eyes and looked directly at him for the first time all evening. "I should eat," she said softly. Quickly she stood, marched over, and seized a string of sausages that dangled from Ling's pack. Swiftly carrying them back over to her spot, she sat down and began to eat greedily. Ling wondered how long it had been since the girl really had a decent meal.

Beside him, Joti was opening her bag and pulling out a map of the Fire Nation capital and its environs. "Before we get going tomorrow," she said, "we need to know where we're going." She looked up expectantly at the girl across the fire. "Well? This is _your_ adventure, after all."

The girl slipped around the fire and looked at the map. "I don't think I'm safe in the Fire Nation," she said. "Everywhere I go, those men follow me. Maybe across the sea I can escape them."

"Well, the nearest port is the capital," Joti began, but the girl cut her off.

"I don't want to go to the capital," she said. "I can't explain it, but I know that I cannot go there. Not again," her voice trailed off quietly, her eyes lost in some distant time and place.

"Then we'll probably want to go to Janxing," Joti said, pointing at another city on her map. "Its several days north of the capital, and it's a big port- one of the biggest. It used to be a trade hub, before the war, and then during the war it was a major staging ground for the navy. Now it's becoming a merchant port again, though there are rumors that the Governor has dealings with pirates."

"How do you know these things?" Ling asked, seeming to look skyward for an answer.

"True adventurers know their geography," Joti said with an air of great dignity. "Besides, you learned all this in school, the same as I did. I just retained it better."

"Janxing will work," the girl said suddenly, her eyes snapping back into focus.

"Well, I'm glad that Your Ladyship approves," Ling said. "So we'll take you to Janxing, drop you off with a ship headed to the Earth Kingdom, and then go home and find Dad. Sounds like a workable plan to me."

"I don't like the way you call me that," the girl said, looking at Ling.

"Call you what?" he asked.

"Your Ladyship. You say it mockingly, without respect."

"Yes, well, you've been nothing but rude to us, so I guess I'm just returning the favor. Besides, its not like you've told us your name, or anything else to call you."

At the mention of names, the girl's eyes flashed and she stood abruptly, stalking away from the fire and into the night.

"Was it something I said?" Ling asked, but Joti shook her head. They could both here the girl out there, raging against the plant life in the area, but finally sleep overcame them both, and they curled up on opposite sides of the fire and slipped into darkness.

Ling awoke before dawn to see the girl standing over him, facing away.

"What do you want?" he asked sleepily.

"Yujin," she said softly.

"What?" he asked.

"It isn't my name," she said, "but you may call me Yujin*."

*A variation on the Chinese word for 'ember'.


	10. Chapter 9: To Trap a King

**Chapter 9- To Trap a King**

The village was a burnt-out shell of its former self. Most of the buildings had collapsed during the fire that Azun's men had set, and those that hadn't had simply been gutted, only their blackened frames still standing as testament to what they had been. The ground was covered in thick black ash all around. In time, perhaps, life- plant, animal, and human- would most likely return to this spot, but for now it was dead.

Sights like this had been common across the Earth Kingdom during the War. Villages, towns and cities that opposed Ozai's tyrannical reign had been put to the torch without exception. But even the cruel Fire Lord had never turned the wrath of his armies against his own people in such a thorough manner. Azun had a lot to answer for.

Zuko took in the devastated scenery in an instant as he disembarked from his transport, accompanied by six of his elite firebenders. The young Fire Lord scowled at the destruction and felt anger surge within him. These were his people, and this maniac had slaughtered them just to make a point. Well, Azun had gotten what he wanted. Zuko was here, and now he and the renegade general were going to have words- harsh words.

A cloud of dust rose up from the other side of the village, and out of it rode four rhinos, each of them bearing two riders, except for the first, which bore only one. The creatures came to a halt just out of striking distance from Zuko's firebenders, and their riders dismounted and advanced. All of Zuko's attention, however, was focused on the man who had ridden the first rhino, and was now walking slightly ahead of his followers.

General Azun was a tall man, and though he was slender for his height it was clear from the way he carried himself that here was a skilled and dangerous fighter. Though his hair and neatly-trimmed beard showed no signs of grey, his face was deeply lined. There was a nobility and purpose in the way he walked, but when Zuko looked into his eyes- golden, a sign of his relationship to the royal house- they were absolutely intense, uncompromising. The eyes of a fanatic.

The general also studied the young Fire Lord intently for several minutes, then he smiled tightly. "Welcome," he said. "I am glad that you received my message- Prince Zuko."

Zuko scowled. "I came here to stop you from murdering my people. And I'm not a prince any longer- my title is _Fire Lord_ Zuko now."

"And I do not recognize your title," Azun replied. "It was wrested unlawfully from your father after the Avatar stripped him of his powers, when your sister should have assumed the throne. From my perspective, the throne of Fire Lord is now vacant."

"My father was a monster," Zuko said in a quiet, angry tone. "He won his throne with the blood of my grandfather, and kept it with the blood of thousands of innocents. I have been working this whole year to repair the damage he did, and I'll probably still be working at it until I'm an old man."

"I quite agree about your father, Prince Zuko," Azun said. "Surprised? You shouldn't be. We were cousins and worked together for years- I knew him for what he was."

"Then why are you working so hard to finish what he started?"

Asun smiled again. "For all his faults, Ozai had something that you, my prince, lack- he had vision. He saw what needed to be done and he did it, even though he may have enjoyed some of the darker sides of his duty to an unwholesome degree. But he _did_ that duty, something you have shown no inclination so far to do."

"And what duty might that be?" Zuko asked, but something told him that he already knew the answer.

"To bring order and purpose to the world," Azun hissed, his eyes alight with fanaticism. "To fulfill the dream that Sozin laid down for the Fire Nation. And it is this dream that I shall fulfill."

#############

Mai crouched on the upper level of one of the burned-out buildings, staring down at Zuko and Azun from a now-empty window frame. She had disembarked from the royal transport some time before it had arrived at its destination and deposited the Fire Lord and his guards. Slipping unnoticed into the village, she had taken her position in the rubble and waited.

She had to admit that there was something impressive about Azun and the way he balanced out his fanatic's words with a calm and reasoned tone that made him strangely compelling. Still, Mai knew better than to be fooled by false charm. Few could do it better than Azula, and Mai had spent more than half her life in the princess's company. Azun could speak of destiny and duty all he wanted and condemn Ozai's evil until the sun set, but that didn't change the fact that he had butchered his own people just to make a point.

Still, there was something about this 'Lord General' that set Mai on edge. Azula had been completely amoral- her father had been a sadistic monster. Either of them would have destroyed this village and a dozen like it if they felt they could profit from doing so. Azun was a different breed- a man so consumed by his own ideals that he could justify anything, no matter how terrible. Even Azula had her moments of humanity. Mai hadn't known Ozai well at all while he was on the throne (and the bitter wreck that even now languished in a prison cell could hardly be called the same man), but she assumed he must have been the same. Azun, though, could commit atrocities without end because he did them with the full approval of his conscience. Watching him speak now, Mai was chilled to the core.

Suddenly, however, something else caught her attention. Glancing across the ruined streets to another burnt-out shell, Mai thought she saw a flash of movement from one of the upper windows. Yes- there it was again. Someone was there. Clearly, Mai thought grimly, Azun had the same idea as Zuko. He had sent her here because she could move stealthily and possessed a radically different skill-set from most soldiers or benders. If Azun turned treacherous, the idea was for Mai to strike hard, strike fast, and cover Zuko's escape. Once he made it back to the royal transport, he would be safe.

Keeping an eye on the spot where she had seen the movement, Mai slowly drew one of her daggers from its sheath. It looked like Zuko would be needing her help very soon.

#############

"You're crazy." It was the first thing that came to Zuko's mind, but on reflection he decided it was the most appropriate. Azun might not by as visibly demented as Azula had become near the end, but it was clear that something in the man's thought process was more than a little skewed.

"Really?" Azun raised an eyebrow. "Insanity is quite a subjective thing, I believe. One might call abandoning a war as we stood upon the brink of victory to pursue 'peaceful coexistence' to be madness as well."

"You want to take my throne and restart the War, and you think that the Avatar won't stop you?" Zuko laughed. "Sounds crazy to me."

"There you are wrong," Azun said. "I don't want the throne. I am of the royal house, of course, but distant enough that I'd have to kill off half the government to ensure the throne would fall to me- and that is something I am unwilling to do. At any rate, I am a soldier, not a ruler. No, it is the true heir of Sozin I seek to place upon his throne."

"'True heir'?" Zuko asked, incredulous. "And who might- oh," the realization of who the 'true heir' must be hit him suddenly, and he felt his opinion of Azun adjust several notches downward. The man wasn't crazy- he was an absolute lunatic if he thought that _she_ would make a good Fire Lord! "You know I can't let you do that," he whispered.

Azun shook his head sadly. "I feared you would feel this way. It is saddening, but no unexpected." He raised one hand, then brought it down in a sharp chopping motion.

Suddenly from the upper stories of several burn-out buildings came a hail of small darts, striking Zuko and his guards on the hands and neck- places where armor and robes did not protect. The Fire Lord growled in irritation and pulled the darts off of himself and flung them to the ground, wondering if Azun thought that this would be enough to bring him down- and then it hit him. His body seemed to fall out from under his control, slumping to the ground like a puppet who's strings had been cut. His mind was still clear and alert, but something was interfering with its ability to control his body.

Poison, he realized. Poison that had a similar effect to Ty Lee's strange ability to block her opponent's chi flow. Though his brain would continue to function, it his body would be helpless until the effect wore off. He couldn't move, couldn't fight- couldn't firebend.

Suddenly sunlight glinted off of sharp pieces of metal. Mai's daggers came sailing through the air, striking several of Azun's soldiers and sending them crashing to the ground, cursing in anger and pain. Zuko strained his ears and heard similar shouts coming from the buildings were the renegade general's warriors had hidden. Mai must have dealt with them before turning her blades on Azun and his escort.

Azun himself had turned to face the direction of the daggers when a slender, dark robed figure leapt down from the building and landed in front of him, a blade in each hand. "You've seen what I can do," she said in her quiet, toneless voice (though Zuko, who knew her well, could hear both anger and concern). "Step away from Zuko, or I'll stick these somewhere you won't like, before you can blink. You're choice."

"I'm sorry- Lady Mai, I presume? Your betrothed is my prize, and I will not depart without him."

Mai shrugged. "Your funeral," she said deadpan, and in a single motion threw her daggers and drew two more. Azun, however, was every bit as fast. His arm came up and caught the daggers on the ridge of his armor before they could hit his face. Both stuck in the metal, but seemed to do no meaningful harm to the general's body.

His other hand threw a projectile of his own- a small, thin dart similar to those used in games in some parts of the world. Mai drew back before it could strike, but the point still grazed her cheek. She lifted one hand to feel if the wound was bleeding- and then, nerveless, collapsed to the ground. The dart had been coated in the same poison that felled Zuko.

"You see, Prince Zuko," Azun said in a conversational voice, "When I was a young man serving in the Earth Kingdom, my men and I happened upon a rare plant that has the unusual quality of completely blocking someone's chi for a short period of time. I brought a small sample of it back to the Fire Nation with me, and now at last found a use for it. You and your men- and your lovely betrothed, will be helpless for the next several hours, at least."

He walked over to Mai and stared down at her comatose form. "Now, what shall I do with her, I wonder? I dislike killing a helpless foe, but she did injure several of my best men, and that calls for retribution, I believe."

"Don't touch her!" Zuko shouted. Rage came together within in with his stubborn, indomitable will- the same will that had led him to chase the Avatar for months upon end when he believed that to be the key to restoring his honor. Pulling himself slowly and awkwardly- but surely- to his feet, Zuko hurled himself bodily at Azun.

Fire Lord and surprised general went down in a tumble, but Azun was still in complete control of his body and managed to quickly get back to his feet, where he stared down in amazement at his foe. "Incredible," he whispered. "I didn't know it was possible to resist the poison that way. Bind him quickly, men!" he ordered, and several of his wounded soldiers leapt to obey.

"What about the others, sir?" one of them asked when they had finished tying the captive Fire Lord so tightly he had no hope of escape.

"Kill the soldiers and wreck the transport," Azun ordered. "They chose their own fate when they agreed to serve him."

"And the girl?"

Azun looked down at Mai and though for a moment. "Leave her," he said. "Someone must carry the news back to the capital that their 'Fire Lord' has become my prisoner. She will serve as well as any, won't you?" he asked, leaning down to face her.

"I will kill you!" Mai forced the words through unresponsive lips, but the meaning was plain. Azun only shrugged. He'd received many death threats in his career as a Fire Nation general- Mai would only be the latest in a long line. He motioned for his men, and they gathered up their prisoner and readied the rhinos to destroy the transport and kill the soldiers. Then they would return home.

The false Fire Lord's reign was finished. Soon the true heir would be crowned, and all the world would tremble at her feet.


	11. Chapter 10: The Governor of Janxing

**Chapter 10- The Governor of Janxing**

Ling, Joti, and the girl who now called herself Yujin had been travelling for four days through the heartland of the Fire Nation when they came at last to the great port city of Janxing.

"Told you I could get us there," Joti told her brother with a crooked smile as she packed her map of the road away and began digging through her bag to see if she had one of the city itself. Ling had to admit that his sister had been right.

They stood on a high rise overlooking a place where the Fire Nation coast curved inwards, forming a bay that was a sheltered and safe harbor. A city- smaller than the capital, but still huge by most standards- had sprung up there, spreading out from the coast in a rough circle. Most of the buildings that could be seen from this height were plain, efficient- a hundred years of war had left their mark on the Fire Nation in many ways, and a prevalence of militaristic style was one of them. At the edge of the city, however, atop a small hill, was built an ornate mansion with soaring red rooftops trimmed in gold.

"The governor's palace," Joti whispered. "The governor of Janxing is supposed to be one of the most powerful people in the Fire Nation- he's supposed to be ancient, appointed by Azulon. I wonder if we'll see him?"

"Let's hope not," Ling replied. "I don't want any more attention on us- and he just might recognize Her Ladys- Yujin, I mean."

Hearing her 'name', the girl turned from the city to look at both of the siblings. "Yes," she said, "It would be wise to avoid the governor's palace at all costs. I need to find a ship, and leave. After you've helped me do that, you're free to go." She turned dismissively and began to descend the ridge towards the city. Ling shot Joti a nonplussed look, then shrugged and turned to follow after the noble.

########## ###

The streets of Janxing were a writhing sea of humanity. Ling had been among so many people only once before in his life- when his father had taken him to visit the capital as a young boy- and he wondered how anyone could manage to live here for any meaningful length of time. Beside him Joti was staring at her surroundings in unabashed wonder, trying to take in as much as possible. She was so devoted to this task that only Ling's hand on her upper arm prevented her from wandering into the wall of a building on several occasions.

Yujin walked a few steps behind them, seeming nervous. She had been in front when they had first entered the city, but as the crowds grew thinner her usual brusque confidence had faded, and now she was looking around herself nervously. At first Ling wondered what could have caused the change, but then a probable answer had come to him. _She's never been in a situation like this before_, he though. _She's used to being above it all, not one of the faceless masses. Well, she's one of the masses now- let's see if she can handle it._

Ling leaned closer to Joti. "You're the one with the maps," he said. "Where do we go from here?"

Joti tore her eyes from the marvelous sights around her and pulled out her map of Janxing. "Well," she said, "the docks are that way, but we don't know about any ships leaving for the Earth Kingdom. We need to find out about that before we can know where to take Yujin- but I don't know how to do that!" A pained expression crossed the girl's face as she admitted there was something about adventuring that she didn't know.

"There must be inns along the docks," Ling said after a moment's though. "Someone there could probably tell us the schedules- or direct us to someone who could."

"And how do we find those?" Joti asked impatiently. "This map just marks important buildings and streets."

"We ask," Ling replied. Stopping a passing man who had (or so Ling guessed) the build and look of a sailor, he asked him what the best inn on the dockside was called, and how to get there. The man provided the information, and Joti marked their route on the map. The three young people set out.

Janxing seemed even huger from the inside than it had looking down. They passed down broad boulevards, through ever-shifting crowds of residents, and by marvelous buildings. Some of them must have served state functions, others the homes of important noblemen and merchants, but Ling couldn't say which were which. Joti, however, now had a destination in mind and a map to guide her, and led her companions to the dockside without any visible difficulty.

The harbor stretched on as far as the eye could see, and at most of the docks were moored ships of all descriptions. In the aftermath of the War trade was flourishing, and Ling could pick out the sleek ships of his own nation, the wallowing leviathans of the Earth Kingdom, and even a handful of smaller boats that must have come from the Northern Water Tribe. Here and there could be seen the metal warships of the Fire Navy (though once those same ships would have filled the entire port), and one smaller warship that didn't fly the colors of any of the surviving nations. Ling wondered if the rumors concerning the governor and pirates had any truth to them.

At last they arrived at their destination. The inn was a large, three-storey building that had clearly seen better days, though it couldn't yet be truly called rundown. A sign showing a giant Lion-Turtle- a mythical sea-best believed long extinct, if it had ever existed at all- hung above the door.

"This is the place where we will find a ship?" Yujin asked, seeming unconvinced.

"I can't speak from experience, but the man I talked to said that the Lion-Turtle inn was the favored gathering place of the most well-respected captains," Ling said. "If there's anyone who can help you, they'll be here."

He stepped forward, but paused just before he entered the door. "We don't have much money," he said to Yujin, "so you might have to work your way across as part of the crew. Think you can handle that?"

She glared at him with eyes suddenly hard. "I can work," she said in a voice soft but intense. "Let's go in."

#############

The common room of the inn was packed with sailors eating, drinking, and playing games of chance. Joti stared at the people around her in awe; Yujin in barely-concealed disgust. Ling, however, made a beeline for the bar, and asked the bartender if he knew of any captains there who were interested in taking on passengers. Without looking up, the man motioned towards a table where several well-dressed sailors sat playing an exotic game that seemed to involve cards and large stacks of money. Ling thanked the barkeep and went over to join the sailors.

"What d'you want, boy?" the first of the men to notice him asked in a surly tone. "If you want to play, wait for the next game."

"I was actually wondering if I could hire one of you," Ling replied. "I'm working for a noblewoman seeking passage to the Earth Kingdom. Obviously she needs a ship, and I was told to come to you."

"What's in it for us?" One of the men asked, seeming interested in spite of his tone.

"I can't pay you much," Ling admitted, "but I can promise you that she's in good shape and not a stranger to hard work. She can work as part of your crew, if you'll take her on. She won't like it, but she wants out of here more."

One of the captains looked thoughtful. "One of my best men skipped off at the last port," he admitted. "Show me the girl. I'm bound for the western coast of the Kingdom- if she can do the work, I'll take her on."

Ling turned around, motioned for Yujin to come over- and stopped. Joti was standing alone, looking frantic. Ling hurried over to her. "What is it," he whispered.

"She's gone," was Joti's reply. "One of the sailor's was practicing with knives, and it was so fascinating that I guess I wasn't paying good attention, because when I turned around to ask what she thought, she was gone."

Ling muttered several choice words under his breath. He was honestly trying to help Yujin, but the girl seemed determined to make his job difficult.

#############

She walked through the streets of Janxing, staring intently at the faces of all the people who passed her by, committing them to memory. It was a difficult task- there were so _many _ of them- but she pressed on. Much of her memory was gone, and what was left made little sense, but she knew she had prided herself on her mind at some point in the past. She had to make sure it was still working.

It was a strange experience, for the girl who now called herself Yujin (but that's not my name! some part of her shouted), walking among these people. She came from another world, as far above them as they were above the animals, or so she'd always though. Whenever she had to walk among them, she had done so borne in a litter upon the backs of servants, or surrounded by her guards. She remembered that; the guards would always announce that she was coming (if only she could remember what they said!) and the people had backed away or bowed down.

Now she walked among them in peasant clothes, and they ignored her, and she saw them for the first time in her life. She saw the wealthy merchants decked out in finery that a king would find tasteless, the common laborers heading to and from their day's work. She passed by beggars on corners, and she paused to look at them the longest- not because she felt pity, or even contempt, but out of simple curiosity. They were her opposites, different from her in every way.

And yet, they had something that the girl who called herself Yujin lacked- they had identity. They knew who they were, and they were able to draw strength from that even in their darkest hours. Suddenly she hated them with a burning, jealous passion, while another part of her laughed at such weakness.

She came to a place where the streets widened out and then came together, and realized that she stood in a market square. Stalls were set up all around, and she could see merchants hawking their wares and haggling with customers. Food, drink, clothing, jewelry, and other items all for sale. Yujin strolled around the edges, taking it all in and storing it all for later use. You never know, she reasoned, when information might be useful.

And then she saw them- three young men, the oldest about ten years her senior, lounging in a shady corner, eating fruit. But it was their clothing and their bearing that attracted her attention. They wore fine clothing, but not gaudy like the merchants, and they bore themselves with the casual arrogance of the noble class. These were her kind- or something close to it- but because of her peasant clothes she couldn't approach them without being laughed away. Growling in irritation, she turned back to the weapon rack she had been examining.

The leader of the three young men, however, stared at her intently for some time. Finally seeming to make up his mind, he turned and hurried from the square, leaving his friends behind.

#############

The young nobleman, whose name was Bhan, hurried along the streets of Janxing. The common people recognized him and drew back, knowing that here was one whose anger came slow and cold, but when it did come was merciless. And so he passed without much trouble through the streets, until he came to the long, winding path that led to the governor's palace. The guards at the gate recognized him immediately, and allowed him to pass without question.

Bhan hurried through the halls of the palace, startling servants and lesser nobles alike, until he came to the great double doors of the governor's audience chamber. Throwing them open, he stepped inside, going down on one knee respectfully as he approached the High Seat.

"Well, Nephew?" a dry, rasping voice asked. "I have not seen you so excited in months. What brings you here in such a state?"

Bhan raised his eyes to look upon his lord and uncle. The governor of Janxing was an ancient man, born to mid-level nobles during the early days of the War. He was never a firebender- to master the element of passion, a bender must have passion himself, and this man was as cold and mechanical as the great war machines that were even then being developed- but he was clever and absolutely ruthless. Great Sozin's son, Azulon, recognized his talents and appointed him Governor during the early days of his reign, and his consistent ability to manage resources well kept him in power under two successor Fire Lords. Few in Janxing knew his real name anymore- none spoke it. He was the Governor; that was all that mattered.

The Governor looked every day of his age. Once tall and commanding, he was now stooped, his once-handsome face deeply wrinkled. His hair and beard were long and white, contrasting sharply with the red-trimmed black robes of his office. A heavy black staff leaned against his seat. His expression, however, was still one of crafty intelligence, his eyes were bright and keen. The Governor's will had grown stronger, not weaker, with age- anyone who sought to toy with a seemingly helpless old man was in for a rude surprise.

"I was in the marketplace with several of my friends, Uncle," Bhan said, catching his breath. "We'd been holding mock duels earlier and were relaxing, when I saw a girl."

"A not uncommon occurrence, I believe," the Governor said dryly, steepling his fingers. "If you took a fancy to her, I do not see why this is my concern." But the old man knew that there was more to this than his nephew let on. Bhan was like his uncle- cold, ambitious, not one to let emotion sway him. Whyever he had come here, it was on genuine importance.

"I knew her, uncle," the younger man said. "It took me several minutes to make sure, because she was dressed as a peasant and her hair was down, but I saw her many times at court. I am certain now of who she is- it is Princess Azula!"

"Indeed?" The Governor raised an eyebrow. He was impressed, though he seldom showed it. "You are certain?" The question was a formality. Bhan would not have come if he was not certain.

"It is her, uncle, I know it," he said. "And I am certain that her brother will be most interested to hear that she is wandering around loose. Perhaps he would pay well for her quiet return to his care."

"Or perhaps there are others who might be equally interested," the Governor said, his mind working quickly. He and Bhan were of one mind on this, as they often were. There was no love lost between uncle and nephew- both men scorned such sentimental drivel- but Bhan was ambitious, and the Governor needed a skilled heir to inherit his domain. They were bound by mutual need- a bond both felt was far stronger and more enduring than mere affection.

"Shall I bring her here?" Bhan asked.

The Governor nodded. "Yes. Use force if you must, but do not damage her. It would not do to sell broken goods."

"As you wish, Uncle." Bhan bowed respectfully, and hurried from the room.

#############

Yujin saw the young nobleman return out of the corner of her eye, but paid no attention to it. She had done a complete circuit of the market and returned to the weapons-dealer, staring at a shelf that held a marvelous selection of throwing knives. Something told her that these weapons were familiar, were something out of the past, and she had bent all of her considerable will to discovering what.

Her concentration was broken as a hand touched her shoulder. She spun, preparing to snap at Ling for daring to do something so far above his station- but she saw not the peasant boy, but the young noble. He was smiling, but the smile didn't seem to reach his eyes.

"What do you want?" she demanded imperiously.

"My name is Bhan," he said. "I'm the nephew of the Governor. I was wondering if you might be willing to come with me on a little walk."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "No," she said simply. "I have a ship to catch- I must be going."

Bhan shook his head. "I'm sorry, then," he said, but she got the sense he didn't mean it. She was about to ask what he was sorry for when something heavy hit her on the back of her head, and she fell face forward into darkness.


	12. Chapter 11: The Obsidian Citadel

**Chapter 11- The Obsidian Citadel**

Zuko lay unmoving across the rhino's broad saddle, staring up at the sky above him. Focusing all of his considerable willpower, the young Fire Lord attempted to move even a tiny bit, but was unable to do so. The venom held him fast, though Azun's men had tied his hands and feet just to make sure.

For what felt like hours they wound their way through the forested path. Azun and his soldiers did not speak, but stared straight ahead in absolute, unbending focus. One of the soldiers, however, seemed to be having a hard time of it- he had been struck deep by Mai's knives, and appeared to be in a great deal of pain. Finally, he brought his rhino to a halt.

"What is it?" Azun asked sharply.

"I…I apologize, Lord General," he said weakly. "I am weak. I have no excuse." Azun, however, nodded in understanding.

"Wait here," the general said. "Rest. I need strong men at my back, not injured ones. Return to the citadel when you are stronger."

"As you command, sir!" the soldier said. He pulled his rhino up against a nearby tree and dismounted. Azun nodded again, and the remaining soldiers set off once more.

Night had fallen by the time they passed out of the forest and came to a place where the trees cleared away. Mountains loomed cold and dark against the starry sky- and among them was nestled a fortress that gleamed like black glass.

"The Obsidian Citadel," Azun whispered. "An old legend- and I found it! Now it is my home, Prince Zuko- and yours, for the foreseeable future."

The rhinos lumbered up the path leading to the Citadel, and the gates swung wide to receive them. In the courtyard Azun and his men were met by more soldiers, some of whom took the rhinos and led them away to be fed and watered, while others took charge of their prisoner. By the Spirits, Zuko thought, how many of them are there?

"What shall we do with the false Fire Lord, Lord General?" an officer asked, looking down at Zuko in disgust.

"Take him to the prison prepared for benders," Azun said. "I shall speak with him at my leisure. Do not harm him- regardless of what he let himself become, he is royalty and should be treated with the utmost respect. Do you understand?"

"I do, my lord!" The officer saluted, and directed his men to take Zuko and follow him. He led them to a chamber high in one of the citadel's spires that had been fitted with a device similar to the one Admiral Zhao had once used to contain the Avatar. The guards fastened the Fire Lord hand and foot into the bindings, and then stepped back to examine their handiwork.

"This is too good for the likes of you, traitor," the officer spat. "You ought to be facing the headsman for what you did."

"What- save a nation from tyranny?" Zuko said, or tried to- it came out rather slurred. The guards laughed and departed, leaving two of them to stand by the outside of the door. Zuko's situation was not good, and he knew it full well- even when this poison wore off and he was able to move again, the only firebending he could do while bound in this position was breath of fire, and he had never had Uncle's knack for that particular trick! At last, he sank into a fitful sleep.

When he awoke, Zuko noticed two things almost immediately. The first was that feeling had returned to his body- not completely, but enough that he'd be able to move if only someone would let him down from this thing. The other was that he was no longer alone.

"You're awake," Azun said. "I considered waking you myself, Prince Zuko, but you looked like you needed the rest."

"Kind words for a jailer," Zuko snapped. "I wouldn't have needed it if it weren't for you and your men."

"True," Azun admitted. "But now that you're awake, I was wondering if we might have a civilized chat."

Zuko snorted. "We tried that, remember? You drugged me and locked me up in here. I don't think it worked out too well."

"I apologize for my poor manners, but I merely did what the spirits have moved me to do." Azun looked up at his captive with a scrutinizing gaze. "You mean well, young man- I can tell that much. But, as I said before, you lack vision. Tell me, Prince Zuko- do you know why I formed the army of the Rising Flame and rebelled against your rule."

"Yeah- you told me yourself. You have some crazy idea that you can make Sozin's dream of an ordered, unified world a reality."

"I am not mad," Azun replied. "About a month following your father's downfall, I was the recipient of a vision from the spirits themselves. They showed me that I- and I alone- could save the Fire Nation from the path of ruin that you- inadvertently, I am sure- were leading it down, and restore it to its former place at the rulership of this world. I must find Sozin's true heir, and then we shall cast down the Avatar and build a new order out of the ashes of the old."

Zuko shook his head. "That's proof you're crazy. The spirits don't want war- a lot of them don't care about us, and the ones that do want the nations to be separate but balanced. That's the natural state of the world."

"It is also natural for human beings to go about unclothed and eat their food raw, but that does not make it right," Azun said. "But come with me, and you will learn that I am not mad and do not lie." Stepping forward, the Lord General unlocked the bindings and let Zuko down. The young Fire Lord stumbled, his limbs still weak from the poison and the captivity, but he pulled himself to his feet, ignoring Azun's offered hand.

"Aren't you worried I'll try to overpower you and escape?" Zuko asked.

"I trust you will see reason," Azun said. "Namely, that you are in no condition to fight, and even if you were, were you to harm me, every one of my men would fall upon you in vengeance. You would not escape."

Zuko grunted, conceding the point but not wanting to admit it out loud. Azun turned and led him out the door and into the Citadel's hallways. They were empty- it was the middle of the night, and most of the soldiers were asleep. Azun led Zuko down the hallways, towards the base of the fortress.

"Have you ever heard the legend of the Obsidian Citadel, Prince Zuko?" Azun asked.

"Sure," Zuko said. "When I was a kid. Everyone does. But it's been a while. Refresh my memory."

"In ancient days," Azun began, "before there was a unified Fire Nation, there was a great tribal chieftain who sought to build a unified kingdom. He prayed to the spirits for help in his quest, and they recognized that his motives were pure. Therefore, they built for him in a single night a great fortress that gleamed like volcanic glass but was stronger than any stone ever delved- even diamond could not scratch its walls. When the other chieftains saw what the spirits had done for him, they bowed to him and called him their king.

"All went well for many years, until the king began to grow old. In his old age he became a bitter tyrant, and his son, when he took the throne, was more cruel still. At last the people called on the spirits for justice- and the spirits, once again, answered. They entombed the son within the depths of his own fortress and drove the ruling house from it, proclaiming that no man, from then on out, could enter the Obsidian Citadel, on pain of death. The people retreated from that place, and no one dared come near for many, many years- until the spirits guided me here, to tell me about their plans for the Fire Nation."

Zuko shook his head, disbelieving. He was convinced more than ever that Azun was crazy, but saying that to the man's face was less than wise- Zuko had enough experience with his sister to know that the insane often had a tendency towards violently erratic behavior. The two men walked in silence for some time, until they came to a pair of double doors.

"Look inside, Prince Zuko," Azun said softly. "And tell me what you see."

Zuko stepped forward and opened the doors, looked within- and was stunned to the core of his being.

The throne hall in the Fire Nation capital had been built slightly more than a century ago by Fire Lord Sozin, following the destruction of the original hall by Avatar Roku. Palace records indicated that he had designed the room himself, and gone through several revisions until arriving at one that pleased him. Those same records spoke of the Obsidian Citadel as a myth.

And yet, somehow, this chamber at the citadel's heart was the Throne Chamber's twin in every way.

#############

Mai lay on the ground in the heart of the ruined village, unable to move, torn between concern for Zuko and hatred for Azun. Finally, however, as night fell, sensation returned to the girl's limbs. Pullinger herself to her feet, she slipped her hands upper her sleeves and checked to make sure she still had several knives. They were their- excellent. Nodding to herself, she slipped off into the night, in the direction she had seen Azun and his men take their captive.

Mai was not one to show her emotion, or let it dominate her reasoning. Many found her cold for that reason, and Azula had once found the quiet girl to be a most efficient and reliable minion. The truth was that Mai could feel emotion just as keenly as any other person, but she learned early in life that the less you showed other people of yourself, the more difficult time they had attempting to control you. And so, though she crept through this forested outland with an expression remarkable only for its blandness on her face, inside she was deeply worried about her betrothed.

Zuko was Mai's Fire Lord, her true love, and her best friend (friendship with Azula merely meant that she found you useful and intriguing, and any sort of emotional depth to it existed only in your imagination. Ty Lee Mai genuinely liked, but the acrobat really had to be taken in small doses.) If Azun had harmed Zuko, Mai swore that he would come to wish he'd poked a sleeping dragon in the eye instead. If Zuko was dead, the general would not live to see another sunrise.

Mai was distracted from her dark thoughts by the sound of someone snoring loudly up ahead. Slipping quietly up a tree, Mai looked down and saw one of Azun's soldiers sleeping near the path, curled up next to an equally comatose war rhino. She wasn't certain, but she thought he was one that she had hit bad with a knife.

Slipping quietly down, Mai drew a knife and held it against the soldier's throat. He woke with a start, then saw that he was inches from death and stared up at the pale girl who loomed over him, her face coldly emotionless.

"Wake the rhino," she said softly, "and you die."

"Alright!" the man gasped. "You win. What do you want?"

"Information," Mai said. "You're one of Azun's men- don't bother denying it. Where were you taking Zuko?"

"The Lord General was taking the false Fire Lord back to the fortress!" the soldier almost shouted.

"Where!"

"You think I'm going to tell you that, lady?" the soldier laughed. Mai pressed the knife-blade down on his throat, drawing blood. "Okay!" he said. "The Obsidian Citadel! In the mountains, with the rest of the army- more than a thousand."

"The Obsidian Citadel's a bedtime story," Mai said. "Where is Azun?'

"It's the truth, I swear!" Mai studied him for a moment, decided he was telling the truth, and lifted the knife blade away.

As soon as she had done so, the man swept his legs around and knocked her off balance, sending her crashing to the ground. Mai looked up to see him standing over her. "Sorry, girlie," he said with a sneer, "can't have anybody asking questions about Lord General Azun." He drew a his sword and held it up.

"Idiot," Mai whispered. Whipping around, she pulled two more daggers from her sleeves and let them fly. They caught the soldier's uniform and pinned him back against the tree. Mai rose to her feet and dusted herself off. "I'll be taking this," she said, waking and mounting the rhino. She tugged the reigns, and led the creature off- away from the mountains.

Mai knew that she stood little chance against an entire army, and that her own forces wouldn't go near the Obsidian Citadel- the legend of the curse was a powerful one. That left one option, and considering it gave Mai a rare half-smile. It certainly paid to have powerful friends.

Azun wasn't going to know what hit him.


	13. Chapter 12: The Game

**Chapter 12- The Game**

"Impressive, don't you think?" Azun asked after a long silence.

"Yeah," Zuko said, feigning nonchalance. "Your men must have had a hard time of it, remodeling this room so fast."

Azun smiled indulgently. "You misunderstand, Prince Zuko. This room, every bit as ancient as the rest of the citadel, was like this _when I found it._ Do you understand now what this means?"

Zuko thought he did, but he didn't want to give Azun the satisfaction. "Enlighten me," he said.

The Lord General stepped into the throne chamber and motioned for Zuko to follow him. "This chamber is, as you have no doubt noticed, a precise replica of Sozin's throne hall in the Fire Nation palace. Or perhaps I should say that Sozin's hall is a precise replica of _this_ room, for it predates the current Fire Nation by centuries, if not millennia. None have dared the curse to come here between the time when the spirits drove the old kings out, and the present in which my men and I took up residence here. So it is a curious thing that the designs should match so closely."

He turned to face Zuko, his eyes gleaming with a fanatical light. "Curious- or perhaps a sign of a deeper purpose. The spirits built this Citadel to be the seat of a king who would unite the people under a peaceful, ordered rule. Centuries later, Sozin takes the throne and dreams of doing the same, and when the Avatar hears of it, in his rage he destroys much of the palace. Sozin must rebuild- and do you know where he got his plans for the new Throne Hall?"

Zuko did- it was coming back to him now, a memory from his schooling. He felt a cold sweat trickle down his back. "He saw it in a dream," the young Fire Lord whispered.

Azun smiled. "Yes- a dream. A dream so detailed it could only have come from one source- the spirits themselves. In ages past they chose the old kings to lead the Fire Nation to glory, and in the modern world they chose Sozin's line for the same purpose. And so you must see that failure to do so is a sin. That is why you must be removed from your stolen throne, Prince Zuko, and one more inclined to do what is necessary put in your place."

"My sister, you mean," Zuko said.

"Yes."

Zuko exploded into motion, launching a flying kick straight for Azun's face. The general stumbled back, then quickly righted himself, drawing the curved sword he wore at his side. Zuko brought his fist up and launched a massive ball of flame that hurled through the air towards his enemy, but Azun caught it in his free hand and sent it off into the obsidian walls, where it sizzled out harmlessly. Then the general lunged forward, catching Zuko on the shoulder and driving him back into the wall.

"You're a good fighter, Prince Zuko," Azun gasped. "You'll be a great one, someday. But right now you're still feeling the aftereffects of my poison. You cannot defeat me like this."

"And I can't let you put Azula on the throne, either," Zuko snapped back. "You don't know her- she's crazy! Give her that kind of power, and she'd destroy everything either of us has ever worked for."

"We shall see," Azun said. "For now, let us return to your cell. Do not fear that you will be mistreated or starved- I will not allow it. You must be in good condition to attend the coronation when Ki Mong returns with the princess. Then, Prince Zuko, your fate will be in her hands."

#############

She came to slowly, conscious of nothing at first except for the massive, throbbing pain on the back of her head. More details emerged- she was kneeling on a stone floor, and her hands were bound tightly behind her back. She blinked several times, and her surroundings came into focus- a large, richly appointed room similar in design to a royal throne room, though on a far smaller scale. An ornate wooden chair stood on a raised platform in front of her, and on it sat an old man eyeing her with keen interest.

"You are awake?" the old man asked, studying her face intently. "That is good. I am the Governor of Janxing- welcome to my palace, your highness."

"What did you call me?" Yujin asked sharply.

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Bhan?" he said in a slightly irritated tone, "I trust you did not hit the princess hard enough to do permanent damage to her mind. If you did, I am afraid I shall have to take the cost of her care out of your inheritance."

The young man from the market stepped into Yujin's field of vision. "Sincere apologies, uncle," he said in a tone that was neither sincere nor apologetic. "My friends and I have used that trick before, and never caused any permanent harm. Perhaps the princess is just weak."

"Weak!" Yujin snarled. "I'll give you weak, you treacherous-" Though the bonds on her hands and feet kept her from moving easily, Yujin managed to hurl herself bodily towards the smirking Bhan, sending him stumbling back in apparent fear. The old Governor laughed at the sight, a harsh, croaking sound.

"Ah, Bhan, I believe you have upset her!" he said.

"It's not funny, uncle!" the younger man snapped. "Honestly, aren't princesses supposed to be delicate flowers or some such garbage? This one's about as delicate as a tiger-wolf."

"Step closer and you'll see just how delicate I am," Yujin snarled. "And why do you keep calling me that?"

The Governor and Bhan exchanged quick glances. "Can she really not know?" the young man asked his uncle. "I had heard she lost her mind, but this…" he trailed off, staring at his captive with an intense, inquisitive gaze.

The Governor arose from his chair and, leaning heavily on his staff, made his way slowly towards Yujin. He knelt down in front of her and reached out a bony, long-fingered hand towards her. She snapped at him, but he simply reached up and began to stroke her long hair. It was strangely soothing, and she almost relaxed- and then he seized her hair sharply and bent her head back, staring into her eyes.

"They say, Azula, that you are a liar without shame," he whispered. "But I have known many liars in my long life, and I have outwitted them all. I can read your secrets, girl, no matter how hard you try to hide them. So if you try to lie to me I will know, and I can do things to you that you will not enjoy, but will not ruin your usefulness to me. Now tell me the truth- do you know who you are?"

Yujin considered lying anyway, but something in this terrible old man's face spoke volumes about the truth of his words. Here was someone who would not be easily fooled, and would inflict pain with the cold calculation of a machine if she displeased him. "I don't," she said softly, "but I think you do."

The Governor released her hair and let her head fall forward. He stood slowly. "Good girl," he rasped. "That wasn't so hard, was it? Now then, it is my turn to answer your question. Yes, I know who you are, and my nephew does as well. Half this nation would know you if only they bothered to look. You are Azula, daughter and second child of Fire Lord Ozai and the Lady Ursa, younger sister of Fire Lord Zuko. And now, you are my prisoner."

That name, that _identity_, felt right to the girl in a way that Yujin never had. A deluge of memories filled her brain, but no one thought lasted long enough for her to hold on to it. Something was still missing, something important, and she knew that until she found it her bending, too, would be gone.

Princess Azula had been a firebending prodigy- it had been more than a fighting style for her, it was a part of who she was on a very deep level. Regardless of who this Governor said she had been, that identity was not who the girl was any longer. When the bending returned, she promised herself, Azula would live again. Until then, Yujin would stand in her place.

But she could still act the part. Raising her head, the girl faced the Governor- who now sat once more upon his raised chair- with a withering, imperious glare. "You overstep your place, Governor," she said in a low voice. "I will not be beaten, manhandled, or held captive by the likes of you. Release me now, and I will spare you my wrath, but I never forgive."

Bhan laughed. "And if we keep you a captive, what will you do? Bite us? You talk tough, princess, but you have nothing to back yourself up with. This is our city, our little kingdom. Here, you'll play by our rules."

"Our?" The Governor turned to look sharply at his nephew. "Janxing is still _my_ city, Bhan- you are my heir, not my partner. You will refrain from claiming ownership until I am safely in my grave. Am I understood?"

"Yes." Bhan bowed. "Forgive me, uncle." The young man stepped back into the corner of the room. The Governor appeared satisfied, then turned his attention back to his captive.

"What are you going to do with me?" she demanded.

"Your brother will be most distressed to learn that you have escaped his care," the Governor said, eyeing her speculatively. "I am a businessman, Princess, before I am anything else. I believe that our young Fire Lord will pay me a great deal for your quiet return. If he doesn't pay- well, let's say that I simply release you into the countryside, or allow you to board a ship and sail to the Earth Kingdom. He'll never find you on his own then. I think that, given the circumstances, he'll find my way the best alternative."

"Something you should know before you go scheming my life away," the girl said. "There are men who have been chasing me ever since I left the capital. If they track me here, they won't rest until they capture me. So you might want to consider letting me go, unless you want a bunch of elite firebenders descending on you."

This, however, seemed to be the wrong card to play. Looking at the Governor's face, Yujin could almost see the wheels turning. "If these pursuers are as adamant as you claim, perhaps they might even be willing to outbid Fire Lord Zuko for you? An angle that must be considered, I believe."

The girl sighed. "Look," she said. "What do you want with all this money, anyway? You're already one of the richest men in the Fire Nation, and you're old- you'll probably be dead in a few years. Why do you need more?"

The Governor laughed his terrible laugh again. "It isn't about money, princess," he said. "Let me tell you a story of a young man who came to the capital during the reign of Sozin, afire with high ideals and the desire to make a difference. He found, after being used, beaten down, and abandoned, that those ideals are false, empty promises made by the powerful to get the people to serve them. He found that the world never changes. And so, after he understood all of this, it came to him that he could use this knowledge for his own gain. The young man was me, of course, and I have accomplished my own gain admirably well. Three Fire Lords have despised me, and all three have allowed me to keep my power, for my administration of their second-largest city has made me indispensible to them. It's not about material gain, princess," the Governor shook his head sadly. "It is a game, and the only goal is to die with more than the other players. That is life."

The Governor motioned for Bhan and the young man stepped forward and seized Yujin by the arms, dragging her roughly to her feet. "Take her to an empty room- one without a window- and lock her in," the old man ordered. "I want her imprisoned but undamaged. When you have done that, write a letter to Fire Lord Zuko, informing him of the present situation and of my demands. Am I clear?"

"Inescapably, uncle," Bhan replied. Bowing slightly to the Governor, he turned and left the audience hall, dragging his captive behind him.

On the high seat behind him, the Governor smiled.


	14. Chapter 13: Plotting

**Chapter 13- Plotting **

Bhan stewed as he dragged the princess off to the guest room where she would be held until the Governor had decided what to do with her. This was a servant's task his uncle had given him, not something fit for the old man's heir. It was because he had spoken out of turn, he knew, claiming that Janxing was his and the Governor's shared domain. The fact that no one else would be trusted enough to be alone with someone known for her slippery cunning registered on some level, but for now Bhan deliberately blocked it out.

At least Azula seemed to have accepted her captivity, he thought. If she'd fought him all the way through the palace, he'd come off looking like he'd just been on the receiving end of a particularly vicious platypus-bear's attentions. Fortunately she hadn't tried using her fire, either. Bhan, like his uncle, was no bender. It was a pity, though, that she was so bad-tempered- the girl was quite attractive, and adding a princess to his collection of conquests would certainly raise his status in the eyes of other up-and-coming noblemen. Of course she was also almost ten years younger than him, but Bhan had never been one to let other peoples' standards of decency get in his way.

Finally they arrived at the room that was generally used for such purposes (the Governor wanted those he held for ransom to be in good condition, and had long since deduced that dungeons were not conducive to one's health). Bhan opened the door and roughly shoved the princess inside. "Stay here until my uncle sends for you," he said. "As long as you cooperate, you won't be mistreated- we aren't monsters, after all. You'll be fed three times a day, too. But don't think you'll be able to escape easily if you want to- the only way out is into this hallway, and the palace is always patrolled by guards, including elite firebenders. Do you understand?"

Azula nodded. "So, are you going to untie me, or am I supposed to eat this food you'll be bringing with my hands behind my back?"

Bhan sighed and rolled his eyes. "All right, but understand that if you try anything I'm a trained fighter and the guards are in earshot."

The princess smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it," she said. Bhan slipped behind her and quickly undid the knots. When Azula's hands were free he stepped away from her and stepped back towards the door, still facing her. He wasn't about to turn his back on this one.

Just as he was about to step back into the corridor, she looked up at him and spoke. "It's Bhan, right?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "Whatever you have to say, say it quickly. I have a letter to your brother to write, and my uncle won't be happy if I'm late."

"Yes, well, about your uncle." Azula threw herself down on the room's bed, but her eyes never left Bhan's face. "I can't help but notice that he doesn't really seem to appreciate you."

"What do you mean?"

The girl shrugged. "It's just that you got the drop on me back at the market- not a lot of people could have done that. I'm impressed. But what does that old man have you doing? Writing letters and escorting prisoners? Servants and guards could do that. He's wasting your talents, Bhan. And you're supposed to be his heir?"

"What the Governor does or does not do with my talents is none of your concern, _Princess_," Bhan snapped.

"I'm just curious," Azula said. "Could it be that he doesn't realize what a competent nephew he has? Or maybe," her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "he does know, but he feels threatened. He's old- maybe he's afraid he'll lose his grip and someone younger will come in and take his place. So the Governor takes the person he's afraid of and makes him his heir, while using him on menial tasks. Keep your enemies close, and all that."

"I won't listen to any more of this!" Bhan snarled, and he stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. As he did so, however, he heard her voice behind him.

"But there _are_ those who appreciate talent, Bhan. I'm one of them."

As he hurried down the hallway towards his study, where he would compose his letter to Zuko, Bhan tried to keep the princess's words out of his head, but they kept coming back to him. She was right- she had to be. The Governor was afraid of him. Perhaps he might even decide that Bhan's usefulness to him had come to an end, and then their relationship would undergo a fatal shift. The Governor of Janxing was not such a family man that he would balk at killing a relative to protect his own interests!

But perhaps Bhan could beat the canny old man at his own game. Then he would have the Governor's seat all to himself- and perhaps he would have a certain princess as well.

############

The girl whose name was either Yujin or Azula lay back on her bed and smiled tightly at the ceiling. She'd been better at this sort of thing before, she knew, but not even losing her identity had stripped her of all her skills. She'd seen the look in Bhan's eye- her words had struck a nerve, even if he didn't want to admit it.

It was such a happy feeling whenever a plan was working out.

############

"I knew we should have kept a better eye on her!" Ling snapped as he and Joti wound their way through Janxing's streets.

"I'm sorry, Ling," Joti replied. "I didn't mean to- I just… got distracted."

They had left the Lion Turtle inn quickly after asking some of the other patrons if they'd seen where Yujin had gone. One old sailor pointed the way he'd seen a girl who matched her description going- back into the heart of the city- and they were off.

"But how do we even know we're going the right way?" Joti asked as they passed another side street. "She could have gone down any of these. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"I'm just following my gut, okay?" Ling said.

"I guess, but I'd rather trade in your gut for a good shirshu right about now."

"What in the name of Agni is a shirshu?" Ling asked, then remembered who he was talking to. "Don't answer that!"

Joti sighed. "I guess I'm just wondering why you're so determined to find her? I mean, Yujin is wandering alone in one of the biggest cities in the Fire Nation and could get into all kinds of trouble, but I thought you didn't even like her?"

"I don't, particularly," Ling said, "but I made a promise to help her, and I'm going to help her whether she likes it or not!"

"So it's an honor thing, huh?" Joti looked at her brother sternly, then brightened. "Great! That means that helping Yujin is our quest, like finding the Avatar was Fire Lord Zuko's, and he's a hero!"

"If you say so," Ling sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

They passed on through the city streets without incident, but also without any sight of the missing Yujin. Finally they arrived at the marketplace they had passed through earlier.

"All right," Ling said. "There have to be dozens of merchants here selling all kinds of things- I think there may be a good chance one of them has seen Yujin. Let's split up and work our way around the market, see if we can find anything."

"Sounds like a plan," Joti agreed. The siblings separated and began working their way around the market. Several of the merchants told Ling that they'd seen a girl matching Yujin's description walking around, but none of them could remember where she'd gone.

Finally, however, a dealer selling quite an impressive assortment of blades- ranging from swords to a large display of throwing knives- had something more concrete. "I saw the girl you're looking for," he said, his eyes darting nervously. "She seemed to find my wares to her liking- and I would like to point out the overall quality of my products compared to my competitors- but she didn't seem interested in buying anything. She just wanted to look. And then…" his voice trailed off, the nervous look in his eyes growing.

"What happened?" Ling asked, getting closer to the merchant's face than the older man would find comfortable. "I need to know."

"All right, all right, you win!" The merchant said. "Bhan took her."

"Who is Bhan?"

"He's the Governor's nephew," the merchant said, "rumor is he's going to succeed him when the old man finally goes. He thinks the whole city belongs to him, and he takes whatever he wants. He your friend earlier, and seemed to take an interest in her, but then he ran off. When he came back, he and some of his friends ambushed her and dragged her off!"

"And nobody did anything to stop it?" Ling said through clenched teeth.

The merchant threw up his hands. "What could we do? He's the Governor's nephew. The old man won't convict his heir of something so petty."

"Where would he have taken her?"

"I don't know!" Ling glared at him, and the merchant seemed to melt. "All right, he probably took her to the palace."

Ling glanced up at the Governor's home where it loomed over the city. "Thank you," he said, and turned to walk away.

"Are you sure you don't want to buy something?" came a frantic call from behind.

"No thanks," Ling said without looking back. He hurried across the market and found Joti, then lead her over to a bench. Brother and sister sat down, and Ling told her what he'd discovered.

"Whoa," Joti said. "This is just like some old legend- the valiant heroes must rescue the fair maiden from the clutches of the evil rule. Let's do it!"

"We have to think this through, Joti!" Ling said. "We can't just barge into the palace and strong-arm the Governor into making his nephew hand over his prisoner."

"You're absolutely right," Joti replied thoughtfully. "Thankfully, I have a plan."

Ling rolled his eyes. "Let's hear it."

Joti explained it to her brother, leaving him staring at her like she had just undergone a metamorphosis into a sea serpent. "You're crazy, you know that?" he was finally able to say.

"Sure do!" Joti said without missing a beat. Ling groaned.

############

Heads turned to stare as Mai rode her stolen rhino into the Fire Nation capital at top speed. Ignoring the staring crowds, the girl moved in a direct, unwavering line towards the palace. When she finally arrived on the grounds, she allowed the exhausted beast to sink to the ground in a stupor and slid off its back.

General Akai and several important ministers were waiting for her on the palace steps. "Lady Mai," the general said with a slight bow, "we hadn't been expecting you back yet. And where is Fire Lord Zuko?"

"Azun betrayed us," Mai said without preamble. "He killed our men and took Zuko."

Akai scowled and clenched his hands into fists. "Tell me where the traitor is," he hissed, "and I will lead the army there myself!"

"I don't think so, general," Mai said. "You might go, but do you think your men will follow you to the Obsidian Citadel?"

"The Citadel?" Akai stared at Mai disbelievingly. "Azun has taken over _that_ accursed place?"

"He has, and I think this calls for bigger weapons than you have, General."

Akai turned to ask Mai what she meant, but the Fire Lord's betrothed had already hurried into the main building of the palace.

"You wouldn't think it to look at her," the general said, shaking his head, "but that girl's got spirit."

In the room deep in the palace that had been given over for Mai's use after her engagement to the Fire Lord was made official, the girl in question now sat, staring at the sheet of paper she had laid out in front of herself. For a moment she considered writing to Ty Lee, but shook her head. She needed someone powerful enough to take on Azun's army, and who didn't share Fire Nation prejudices. With all her talk of auras and spirituality, Ty Lee probably wouldn't set foot within a hundred miles of the Obsidian Citadel because of 'bad vibes' or something to that effect. No, the person Mai had originally planned to write to was by far the best option.

Strange as it might seem to someone who had once been one of Princess Azula's closest 'friends', the only person who could help Mai now was he who had once been the greatest enemy of the Fire Nation, who wiped out Zhao's fleet and brought even the mighty Ozai to his knees. She needed the Avatar.

Mai dipped her brush into her inkpot, and began to write.


	15. Chapter 14: Treachery in Janxing

**Chapter 14- Treachery in Janxing**

The Governor slowly lowered the scroll and stared at Bhan from over its top, eyes glittering with bitter amusement. "It would seem, Nephew," he said slowly, "that the universe has a perverse sense of humor."

"Uncle?" the younger man asked, not certain to what the Governor was referring but knowing that it would be revealed with the contents of the letter. It had been two days since Bhan had sent their message to the capital by hawk- they had just received the response. Judging from the old man's reaction, it contained something unexpected.

"Read this," the Governor said, handing the scroll over to his nephew and leaning back in his seat. Bhan's eyes flashed quickly over the writing, widening slightly as he reached the conclusion. According to this writing, Fire Lord Zuko was not currently in residence at the Capital, and it was unknown when he would be returning. The ministers (which Bhan took to mean the Lady Mai) were, however, deeply alarmed at the prospect of Princess Azula remaining free, and General Akai and a squad of his best men were even now on their way to Janxing to collect the Princess in person.

"It would appear, Uncle," Bhan was finally able to say, "that we will not be getting our ransom."

The Governor chuckled. "Bhan," he said, "you must learn to think beyond the obvious before you will amount to anything. General Akai is coming for Azula, but if he does not find her? It will mean disgrace, or a merry hunt- unless the kindly old Governor who took the Princess in out of a genuine desire to help her is willing to reveal which direction she went when she ran off- for a price, of course."

"But of course, you would have hidden her in the first place," Bhan nodded, catching on to the new plan. "And when Akai finds her and returns her safely to the capital, you get your money and the goodwill of the Crown to boot. But what if Akai suspects?"

The Governor shook his head. "What can he do? Only the Fire Lord can bring charges against a man of my station, and he is conspicuously absent. Akai can suspect all he wants- he cannot hurt me, and by the time Zuko returns, there will not be any evidence for him to use."

"You think of everything, Uncle."

The Governor arched an eyebrow. "Of course. Now fetch me the Princess. We should move her immediately and need to decide where."

"As you command, Uncle," Bhan bowed respectfully and hurried from the room. As soon as the doors shut behind him, however, he smiled tightly. "You've miscalculated, old man," he whispered. "You're slipping. Maybe it's time for a change in management."

The young man's fingers caressed the hilt of the dagger that hung from his belt.

############

"This is absolutely the single most insane idea you have ever had!" Ling hissed to Joti as the two of them crouched beside the road leading up to the Governor's palace, as the gloom of evening began to fall. "This can't possibly work."

"It works all the time," Joti hissed back. "I must've told you about a hundred times now. You've just got to trust me."

"Jumping some guards, stealing their armor, and walking in through the front door just like we belong? That's the first thing they'll expect."

"That's why it's the only thing that'll work," Joti patiently explained. "It's such an obvious idea that they won't think anyone would be dumb enough to try it."

There was something wrong with that logic, but at the moment Ling couldn't quite see what, so he let that argument drop. "But listen," he said, trying a different approach, "surely they'll recognize that we're not actually guards and they don't know us?"

"These aren't real soldiers, Ling," his sister said. "Petty nobles use mercenaries, and they change all the time."

"Fine. You win," Ling sighed. "But you remember- we're going in for Yujin, and we're not taking our time. We're not losing her just because you want to stop and make yourself a trophy map of the Governor's palace."

Joti looked hurt that Ling would suggest such a thing, but suddenly her ears pricked up and she slipped further back, pulling Ling with her. Two guards were patrolling down the pathway, looking tremendously bored and not terribly bright.

Joti cursed under her breath. "They're both guys," she muttered. "but I guess beggars can't be choosers." She bent down and rubbed some mud on her face (her clothes had been artfully torn earlier) and then dashed out onto the road to play her part.

The guards stopped and stared to see a filthy, bedraggled girl stumble onto the path in front of them. One of them stepped forward and drew his sword half from its sheath. "This is the Governor's land, girl," he snapped. "Tell us why you're here or get off."

Joti hurled herself at the guard's feet and began sobbing hysterically. "B-bandits!" she gasped. "We were traveling to the market from our village, and they came out of nowhere! I was the only one who got away. C-could you please save my family?" She looked up at the man with pitiful eyes.

From behind a tree, Ling scowled. "Don't overdo it," he muttered. The guards, however, seemed to buy the story completely. Apparently the Governor didn't hire these street patrolmen for their intellects. The guard bent down and patted Joti awkwardly on the head and whispered something reassuring in her ear, and then she seemed to pull herself together and lead the guards off the road towards the 'bandit camp'.

As they passed Ling's tree, Joti suddenly doubled over and began to cough. One guard bent down to see what was the matter- and stumbled back in pain as she elbowed him in a place he held in great personal regard. The other guard had his sword half out when Ling tackled him from behind and knocked his head hard against the ground. His helmet protected him from serious harm, but the man was out cold. Looking up, Ling saw that Joti had successfully knocked out her guard as well.

"That," she said, looking down at the sprawled body, "was so easy it was almost sad."

Ling was already pulling armor off of his captive. "Hurry up," he said. "We need to do this fast, remember?"

"Of course I do," Joti said with a wry grin. "It's my plan, after all."

############

Yujin looked up as the door opened and Bhan came in, two firebender guards behind him and a rope in his hands. "Come with us," the Governor's nephew said. "My uncle wants to see you."

The girl rose slowly and held out her hands, allowing Bhan to tie them swiftly. She noted, however, that this not was much looser than before- she could escape from this, given time. Either Bhan was becoming inattentive, or else he was playing some new game. Either way, it worked out in Yujin's favor.

They marched through the palace hallways and came at last to the Governor's audience chamber. Bhan left the guards outside of the door, and then he and his prisoner stepped inside.

The room was unchanged from Yujin's last visit- still grand and imposing, with the old Governor in his black and red robes seated on his throne, staff in hand. He smiled slightly as Bhan and Yujin approached the high seat.

"Complications have arisen, Princess," the old man rasped. "It seems you're brother is unavailable, and his advisors aren't interested in playing out little game. But we can't have that at all- so we're changing the rules."

"If you can't win, cheat," Yujin said. "I can understand that."

The Governor laughed. "It's a pity we had to be enemies, girl," he said. "I almost like you. No matter. Bhan, come here. I have instructions for you." The younger man stepped away from Yujin's side and walked towards the high seat, and she began twisting her hands in the ropes, trying to unbind them. If she still had her firebending, this would be easier- but the look in Bhan's eye told her that he and his uncle were going to be distracted soon and completely.

True to her predictions, she saw Bhan's hand tighten on something at his waist as he approached his uncle. As the Governor leaned forward to speak his instructions, Bhan pulled the dagger from his belt and stabbed him clean in the heart. "You taught me well, Uncle," he said pleasantly as the old man's eyes widened in shock and pain. "I realized that if I was the hero who saved the mentally ill princess from the depraved attentions of the evil old Governor, I would both get my inheritance and the favor of the crown for uncovering such vile corruption. And perhaps," he added slyly, "someday I might have the princess herself? She's out of succession, true, but still a prize. I think my plans have worked out rather well."

"One problem, Bhan," the Governor wheezed. "_I'm not dead yet!_" With strength surprising from one so old and frail, the Governor pulled himself to his feet and towered over his stunned nephew. The front of the old man's robe was torn, and there Yujin could see the secret of his survival- he wore a suit of armor under the long robes of his office. As Bhan stumbled backwards, the Governor drew up his heavy staff and clicked a trigger on the back side. A long metal spike extended from the staff's base, and the old man heaved it up and slammed it into his nephew's side. Bhan collapsed, screaming in pain.

"Oh, be quiet," the Governor snapped. "You're not dying, boy. But it hurts, and it'll leave a scar, and that will remind you to be more careful next time. You can have my throne if you kill me, but don't think you won't have to earn it."

He retracted the blade back into the staff and leaned on it, turning slowly towards Yujin as he did so. "And you, girl," he said pleasantly, "You did this, didn't you? Bhan was always ambitious, but he didn't seem so ruthless until today. I have heard of the way you can manipulate people, Princess Azula, and you clearly hoped that Bhan would kill me and then let you go."

"So are you going to kill me now?" she asked. "I turned your nephew against you, after all."

The Governor chuckled. "No, no," he said. "I'm grateful to you, hard as it may be to believe. You helped Bhan grow a backbone, which he'll need when he succeeds me. You're a clever one, princess. A pity I didn't know you when I was a young man!"

"A pity," Yujin whispered, and then with a twist she tore her hands free from the bindings. In a single fluid motion she launched herself at the Governor in a flying kick. His eyes widened momentarily in surprise, and then he brought his staff up in defense. It caught Yujin's feet in midair and sent her skidding to the floor. She leapt up, murder glaring in her eyes. Behind her, forgotten, Bhan pulled himself to his feet and, clutching his side, fled the room.

"I'm an old man, princess," the Governor hissed, "but don't think I'm helpless. I have many surprises for those who would."

"I have surprises too," she growled, and shot forward with her hands outstretched. The Governor raised his staff and extended the spike, but she had expected this. Yujin seized it in the middle and began to tug, trying to pry it from the old man's hands. He was strong for his age, but she was young and in good condition- and she was a trained warrior, while he was not. The staff tore free from the Governor's grip, and Yujin spun and struck him with it on the chin. The Governor toppled backwards and lay groaning on the floor before the high seat.

"You used me," she hissed, holding the staff's spike to the old man's throat. "You thought you could make me a bargaining chip in some grand game you play with yourself. But I'll tell you this- you say I'm a princess. I don't know if you're right, but I know this much- I'm nobody's tool."

"Are you going to kill me?" the Governor asked.

"I should," Yujin replied. "I should stick this thing in your throat and leave you here for your subjects to find. It's what you deserve." She poked the spike harder against his skin, drawing blood.

The Governor looked up at her, eyes cold. "Do it!" he hissed. Yujin was stunned- the old man didn't seem like a coward, but neither would she have pegged him for some crazed death-seeker. Then it dawned on her. If she was who he thought she was, her killing of him would be infamous. The murder of a high-ranking lord by the mad princess would go down in histories, and they would all say that after she escaped from the madhouse (so that's where she'd been!), Princess Azula's first victim was the Governor of Janxing.

Even now, he tried to use her.

"Do it!" the Governor hissed again. Yujin stared at him for a moment, then threw the staff away.

"I don't think I will," she said.

"Why not?" the Governor asked, pulling himself into a sitting position. "Surely not mercy- surely not from you!"

"Not mercy," Yujin said with a feral grin. "Hardly that. I won't kill you for one reason- it's what _you_ wanted. You thought that if I killed you, you would become legend. But now whenever people speak of the Governor of Janxing, they will say he was bested by a girl, in his own throne room- and that in the end, she didn't even consider him enough of a threat to be worth killing."

The Governor stared up at her for a long moment, and then he burst out laughing, the dry, rasping sound filling the room and causing Yujin to stumble back in horror. "You win, Princess!" he finally gasped. "You win."

The old man pulled himself onto his high seat. "Guards!" he called, and the two who had escorted Bhan and Yujin entered. "The Princess is to be allowed to leave here unharmed. Do you understand?"

"Yes, lord," one of the guards said, "but if you'll pardon my asking- why?"

"Call it a gesture of honor to a worthy foe," the Governor said. He bowed respectfully to Yujin, and motioned towards the door. She turned and left the hall without a backward glance, bewildered guards in her wake.

She passed down hallways that were richly appointed (though not as rich as ones that she had once known) and came to an intersection near the front gates. She could see them- and her freedom- there- but in front of them were Bhan, grinning dementedly, and his two friends from the market.

"You did this to me!" he growled, clutching his bleeding side. "You tricked me. Kill her!" The other two young nobles stepped forward, one of them drawing a sword, the other calling fire into his hand.

"You're uncle said I was to be allowed to leave!" Yujin snapped.

"Like I care about that right now!" Bhan snarled back. Yujin dropped into a fighting crouch, but suddenly a figure in guard's armor leapt from one of the side corridors and tackled the firebender. The other noble drew his blade and moved to help his companion, but Yujin took him from behind. Three quick jabs and he lay on the ground, moaning in pain.

Bhan stumbled back, seeking escape, when a small figure in outsized armor walked casually up to him and struck him hard on the head with what looked like a scroll wrapped around a wooden core. The nobleman glared at his attacker, and toppled over. He lay still, bleeding onto the floor.

Beside her Yujin saw her other rescuer had subdued his opponent. Standing up, the guard, removed his helmet- revealing the face of Ling beneath. The other 'guard' took this as a cue to remove her own helmet and shake out her long hair, revealing herself as Joti.

"What are you doing here?" Yujin demanded in genuine wonder.

"We came to rescue you!" Ling said, "But it looks like you had things under control until just now."

"But, why?" Yujin asked, still not understanding. "You could have left me here and gone home with no risks to yourselves. Why try to help?"

"We made a promise," Ling said. "That's not something you can just ignore."

"And you came back for me," she whispered, shaking her head.

"Yeah," Joti said, coming over to stand beside the other too, "and I think that we might want to leave now. It's getting a little too hot for comfort in this place, if you know what I mean."

"I thought you were the one who wanted to look around?" Ling asked.

"I was," Joti said with an air of wounded dignity. "And I have. Now I want to leave so I don't get deep-fried."

"I can agree to that!" Ling said. Yujin and Joti following behind, he hurried to the doors and shoved them open. The three stood staring there for a long moment, and then hurried off into the night.

In the rear, the girl who might have been a princess couldn't keep herself from wondering at two people who would risk themselves to save someone they barely knew.


	16. Chapter 15: Memories of Flame

**Chapter 15- Memories of Flame**

Ling, Joti, and Yujin hurried away from Janxing as fast as their legs would take them, all three feeling the need to put as much distance between themselves and the Governor's palace as possible. They didn't speak, but their thoughts all ran along the same lines- the old man had let them go for his own reasons, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn't change his mind.

Finally, when the moon was dipping down towards the horizon and they could run no more, they came to a thickly wooded place in the shadow of the mountains that ringed Janxing on its landward side. They slipped in among the trees and collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Joti fell asleep almost immediately, and so did Yujin- at least to judge from the fact that she was curled up motionless on the ground. Had Ling bothered to check, however, he would have found that her eyes remained wide open.

Ling himself found that sleep evaded him. At first his thoughts turned to his father, wondering if Zhung and the village had survived the wrath of the renegade soldiers who had come seeking Yujin what felt like an eternity, but was in fact less than a week, ago. Then his mind wandered into the future, wondering where they would go now that Janxing was not an option, and if in fact they had discharged their promise to the strange girl.

Finally his thoughts turned to Yujin herself, perhaps the most fascinating and disturbing line of reasoning. Why, Ling wondered, would the Governor of Janxing, by all accounts one of the most powerful people in the Fire Nation, go out of his way to kidnap her unless he knew something about her that could provide him a drastic advantage? And then there was the almost feral look in her eyes when she confronted her three opponents just before Ling and his sister found her- and the equally intense look of hatred from the young man with the injured side. What had she done to merit that?

Ling had suspected from the beginning, and was now even surer, that the person he was now traveling with was not entirely sane.

Sighing, he rose to his feet and stalked out of the grove. Clearly he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. Ling stepped out onto the grassy slope and looked up at the stars, which were mirrored in the lights of now-distant Janxing. He tossed his head back and breathed deeply, then dropped into a firebending stance.

Time seemed to blur as Ling moved through his routines. He jumped, twisted, punched, and kicked, summoning the fire that was an extension of his own life's energy and sending it out in jets and waves. For a brief time, his concerns and worries vanished. There was only himself, and the flame.

Finally, though, Ling's practice came to an end. Breathing deeply, he centered himself, took another deep breath, and opened his eyes- and there, sitting against the nearest tree, was Yujin.

Her customary expression of cool arrogance was gone, and instead Ling saw a whirl of confused emotions. He had a sense of hate, ruthless and absolute, within that gaze, though he somehow knew it wasn't directed against him, not exactly. Behind the hatred was pain, old and well-hidden, but there nonetheless. The hate was that of a cruel and ambitious adult; the pain was that of a confused and abandoned child. It was a disturbing contradiction, but not one that Ling had time to focus on because of the other emotion that overrode all others- longing, more powerful than anything he had ever seen or imagined.

He had known Yujin for almost a week, now, and for the first time he thought he was seeing her true self.

Though the turmoil of emotions she projected was off-putting, Ling was compassionate at heart and felt a twinge of pity for this lost, confused person. He quietly walked over to the girl and sat down next to her, her head rotating slowly so that she was looking him straight in the eye.

"You miss it, don't you?" Ling asked quietly. He didn't say to what he was referring, but Yujin understood.

"I do," she whispered. "I don't remember much about who I am or where I came from, but I remember that the firebending was more than just a skill, more than just something I did well. I did everything well when I wanted to. But the fire- it was different. It was _who I was_. Now it's gone, and so is my life."

"Yujin," Ling breathed, "I… I didn't know."

She continued as if she hadn't heard him- and maybe, he thought, she hadn't really. Maybe this whole speech was directed at herself, with him as an incidental listener. "The Governor knew. He told me my name, but he just wanted to use me. I made him pay." A dark edge entered her voice then, and Ling involuntarily shrunk away.

She turned completely towards him then, and he found himself caught by those golden hawk-like eyes. "You came back," she said. "Why?"

"I made a promise to help you," Ling said. "I couldn't just leave you."

"Honor," Yujin snorted. "You sound like my brother. I don't believe you. What did you have to gain from saving me?"

"Nothing!" Ling protested. "It was the right thing to do."

Yujin grabbed Ling by the chin and held him in place, staring into his eyes. Finally she released him and shook her head. "I think you're telling the truth," she said, "but I still can't believe that anyone would do something like that. Nobody ever did anything like that for me before." Her voice trailed off into a whisper.

"I thought you said you didn't remember much."

Yujin's expression hardened. "I said nothing of the sort. In fact, we didn't talk tonight at all- I watched your firebending, and then we both went back to sleep."

"Whatever you say," Ling muttered as he stood up and went back to where Joti lay sleeping. He knew, however, that he would remember this insight into Yujin for some time to come.

#############

The great doors swung open and General Akai and his bodyguards strode into the Governor of Janxing's audience hall. The old man himself was waiting for them on his high seat, accompanied only by a younger man with a heavily bandaged side who was glaring at all parties with a look of pure malevolence. This must be the Governor's nephew, Bhan. Akai idly wondered how he received his injury.

"Good day, General," the Governor rasped. "I trust your journey treated you well."

"Governor," Akai said in clipped tones, "I did not come here for idle conversation. You will hand Princess Azula over to me at once, or face the consequences."

"Really?" The Governor chuckled slightly. "Well, I'm terribly sorry, General, but I'm afraid I can't do that."

"'What game are you playing this time, you old spider?"

The Governor did laugh then, and Akai couldn't help but cringe slightly at the rasping, mirthless sound. "No game, I assure you. I can't hand Azula over to you for the simple fact that she is no longer here."

"You let her escape?" Akai almost shouted. "Unless this is just another of your tricks."

"Are you calling me a liar, General?"

"Yes, I am."

The Governor smiled. "Be very careful with your accusations, young man. I've held this position since before you were born. More powerful people than you have threatened me, and here am I still."

"Things have changed now," Akai hissed. "Fire Lord Zuko isn't like his father or grandfather. He won't stand for your treachery."

"Ah, but he isn't here- in fact, you don't know where he is, do you? And our ranks are equivalent, don't forget- you can't do anything to me without Zuko's approval, which he can't give. So if you want to find your missing Princess, you'll need to play nice."

General Akai gritted his teeth. "Alright, Governor. What do you want?"

"Information," the Governor said. "Knowledge is power, General- never forget that. Tell me why it is so vital that Fire Lord Zuko's top military advisor comes himself to track down an escaped prisoner?"

"Princess Azula is one of the most powerful firebenders alive and is completely insane. What more reason do you need, old man?"

The Governor shook his head. "Not good enough. A lesser functionary could handle that. What's really going on?"

Akai sighed. "We aren't the only ones looking for Azula. General Azun has launched a rebellion against the Fire Lord, and we believe that he intends to use Azula as a figurehead for his new government. He sent one of his men- Colonel Ki Mong- to retrieve her. It is our task to find her before he does."

"Ah, yes, I see now." The Governor nodded. "Our young Fire Lord's government is threatened by his father's old guard and his unstable sister's claim to the throne, and this time the Avatar isn't here to bail him out. I see why this matter is of such importance."

"There," Akai said. "You got what you wanted. Now give me whatever help you can in finding the Princess so we can prevent a coup!"

The Governor leaned forward in his seat. "When Azula fled from my care three nights ago, I sent out my scouts to follow her and see where she was bound. You can never be too careful, after all. Bhan, you will mark her course for the good General on a map and send him on his way. After all, the security of our Nation is at stake."

"Yes, Uncle," Bhan said in what seemed to Azun to be a bitter tone. The young man motioned and the General and his guards followed him from the great hall.

#############

When his nephew and General Akai were gone, the Governor of Janxing leaned back in his high seat and smiled. Indeed, as he had told Akai, knowledge was power, and he happened to be aware that a certain Colonel Ki Mong and his men had just arrived in Janxing earlier that day, asking questions about a girl who matched Azula's description.

The Governor rang a bell beside his high seat, and one of his servants entered through a side door. "You rang, my lord?" the man asked in a soft, unremarkable voice.

"Send out messengers," the Governor ordered. "They are to scour the city and find the man called Ki Mong. Tell him that the Governor of Janxing has a business proposition for him. This is what I am offering…"


	17. Chapter 16: Phoenix

**Chapter 16- Phoenix**

Joti unrolled a map of the Fire Nation on the table in front of her, using a cup and a plate of food to hold the edges down. "Now, then," she said matter-of-factly, "It's been five days since Janxing, and we're far enough out of the Governor's territory that we don't need to worry about him chasing us anymore. Now we need to figure out where we're going next."

Ling and Yujin pulled their chairs forward and bent down over the map. They'd been travelling nonstop for the last several days, and Yujin had barely spoken to either of the siblings since she'd watched Ling's firebending practice. The girl seemed to be drawing into herself, pursuing some internal quest that Ling could only guess had something to do with whatever had happened to her in the Governor's palace. They'd finally arrived at this backwater inn- the ramshackle collection of buildings out back could not justly be called a village- and stopped for some rest and real food.

"Well, Janxing is out, obviously," Ling said thoughtfully. "And I'm guessing you still don't want to go near the capital?" He looked over at Yujin questioningly.

"Definitely not," she said vehemently.

"Now then, we have a problem," Joti said, running her finger along the Fire Nation coast. "There aren't any other major ports near here, unless you count fishing villages or old Navy bases. Neither one would work, unless you want to try and hitch a ride on a warship or sail across the ocean in a fishing boat. I don't know about you, but I think that both of those are _very_ bad ideas."

Yujin moved over to stand behind Joti so she could get a better look at the map. She studied the coastline intently for several minutes, then jabbed her finger down on a dot several weeks to the north. "There," she said. "That city- Gandao- looks like the closest major port."

"That would work." Joti looked over at Ling. "But that's a long way from here. Can we do it?"

"We can. We made a promise, Joti, and we're going to keep it."

Joti absorbed this, the smiled brightly at the prospect of a new adventure. "Excellent!" She rolled up her map and stuffed it into her bag. "Gandao, here we come!"

Ling stood up and stretched, letting loose a great yawn. "Well then, if that's settled, I think we should head up to our rooms and get some rest." The three were turning to do just that when the door of the inn swung open with a loud crash. They spun and saw the hulking figure of Yujin's pursuer filling the frame almost completely, his soldiers clustered behind him.

Ling tried to shield Yujin with his body, but he was too late. The big man focused his gaze on them and let loose a loud, darkly amused laugh. "The Spirits favor me with luck, it seems," he rumbled. "We had just stopped here to rest tonight- and now my quarry is here as well. A lucky night."

The innkeeper hurried out from the kitchen. "Now, see here, whoever you are," the man stammered, "I will not allow you to harm my paying customers, you hear-" His voice was cut off as the soldier seized his collar and dragged him close.

"Are you interfering with my business, innkeeper?" he growled.

"And be sure to clean up when you go!" the frightened man squeaked. "A good evening to you!"

"That's better." The soldier shoved the innkeeper aside and advanced on Ling, Joti, and Yujin. "Now then, children, be reasonable. Give me the girl, and I won't hurt you."

"How did you find us?" Ling asked, stalling for time.

The big man shrugged. "It wasn't hard. You ran from Janxing in a straight line, boy, and the Governor's men pointed me in precisely the right direction. Yes, I was several days behind you, but with rhinos it wasn't hard to catch up."

"How wonderful for your rhinos," Ling muttered. "Joti, Yujin, go!" Both girls hurried up the stairs towards the rooms (or rather, Joti hurried, half-dragging a snarling Yujin behind her) while Ling dropped into a firebending stance and sent a fireball hurtling at the big soldier.

"You fools!" the innkeeper shrieked in a corner. "This place is made of wood!" No one paid him any attention.

The soldier blocked the fireball and dispersed its energies with ease. Then, with speed remarkable from such a large man, he leaped forward and struck Ling full on the chest with his armored shoulder. The boy went down hard, groaning. The soldier put his foot on Ling's chest.

"You have talent, boy," he said. "Learn your lesson from this, and someday you might live to use it." He motioned towards the stairs, and several of his men hurried up them. They returned several minutes later, two of them clutching squirming girls, the one holding Yujin nursing some sort of injury on one hand.

"Little monster bit me, Ki Mong!" he said in angry disbelief.

"Really," the one called Ki Mong said, "is that any way to refer to your princess?"

"Princess?" Ling gasped, while Joti simply looked stunned.

"Didn't you know?" Ki Mong sounded amused. "Your friend is Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and rightful heir to his throne."

_Azula_… Ling's mind whirled. The deposed Princess had been infamous for her cunning and ruthlessness- and after her brother Zuko had taken the throne, stories of her instability also came to the light. Part of Ling didn't want to believe it, but part of him admitted that what he knew of the Princess fit with Yujin's behavior. It all made a sick sort of sense.

"Take them outside," Ki Mong was ordering his men. "Tie them up, and put them on the rhinos. We'll let the Lord General explain himself to the Princess, and the other two will make fine additions to our army, once they see the truth of our cause."

#############

Yujin kicked and struggled as Ki Mong's men loaded her onto a rhino's back. She didn't know where they were taking her, or why, but she knew that someone called "Lord General" was involved, and that it was the Governor who had sold her out. She was still part of these men's sick games, but she swore to herself that she would be free, and she would get her bending back. Then they would all pay, in fire and blood. They would all learn that she was no man's servant.

Just as Ki Mong and his soldiers were mounting the rhinos themselves, a blast of fire shot out from down the road and stuck the ground just in front of the big leader's mount. Ki Mong's rhino reared, and when he managed to calm it the smoke had cleared, revealing a half-dozen firebenders outfitted in the livery of the Royal Procession, led by a man in even more ornate armor.

"Colonel Akai," Ki Mong said with a slight sneer. "Fancy meeting you here."

"It's _General_ Akai now, Ki Mong," the leader said. "And you have something- or rather someone- I want. Hand the princess over now, and I'll let you walk away. As to how I got here, it seems that the old wretch in Janxing is playing both sides. He gave me directions, too."

"You are in no position to make demands, Akai!" Ki Mong snarled. "Azula stays with me. You would only lock her away in a cell again- I will take her to one who will make her a queen! But then, you are a talented man, Akai, even if you are a stubborn fool. Come with us! General Azun will have great use for you."

Akai and his men summoned fire into their hands. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass- Fire Lord Zuko doesn't take well to little things like war crimes and treason. And you're the one who is outmatched here. Your men are common firebenders; mine are the elite. Surrendur now before someone gets hurt."

Ki Mong kicked his rhino into motion. The great grey creature hurtled towards the general and his men, who ducked aside just in time. Akai came out of his roll just as Ki Mong leaped down from the rhino's back, calling up fire of his own. The two skilled firebenders- neither man a true master, but both approaching the lower edge of mastery- lit up the night with their battle.

As Akai's men spread out to engage Ki Mong's, Yujin's captor spurred his rhino into motion. The creature snarled and reared back as the Royal Firebender launched a fireball at it; it was all the rider could do to keep himself stable. Yujin wasn't so lucky. Cursing, she slid backwards off the rhino and saw the ground rushing towards her. Her hands bound, she was unable to save herself. Then she struck, and felt a stabbing pain in her head, and then she felt herself slowly drifting away…

#############

_The girl Azula was five, and she was already quite accomplished at finding the hiding-places, bolt-holes, and hidden corridors that riddled Sozin's Palace like a honeycomb. It was a point of pride for her- all of the other palace children used the passages, but none of them knew half as many as she did. Driven by a need to prove herself and innate curiosity, she had used her knowledge to uncover so many fascinating secrets._

_Most adults thought her spying was wrong, and tried to stop her from doing it, but Father understood, Father was proud. And that was all that mattered. _

_She was spying now upon her other parent, a woman of queenly bearing and regal beauty- the Lady Ursa. Mother was in one of the gardens, talking to a friend in low voices. At first Azula was bored- the sort of feminine things they were discussing had never appealed to her, except for when she had to show what a good little girl she was- but her hearing perked up when she heard her name. _

_"I'm worried about Azula," Mother said. _

_"Whyever for?" the other woman asked. "From what I've heard, she's very bright and has already manifested her firebending powers. She sounds like the daughter every noblewoman dreams of having!" Azula, for her part, thought that Mother's friend had the right idea. _

_"It's not that," Mother said, staring down into the garden pool. "It's her father. He took her away from me as soon as he could, and has been raising her and teaching her almost entirely by himself. That's why I'm afraid for her- because I'm afraid _of _him."_

_"He can't be that bad, dear! I've met his older brother, and Prince Iroh is a delightful man. Ozai can't be that different."_

_"He is," Mother said. "When we first married, I thought he was a good man- and maybe he was, once- but ambition has corrupted him completely. All he cares about is the throne, and he doesn't care who he hurts to get it. And he enjoys it- he tries to hide it, but I've seen the way he loves inflicting pain. He's become a monster, and he wants to make Azula one too- and because he's a prince, there's nothing I can do to stop it." _

_Mother's friend whispered comforting words into her ears, but Azula wasn't listening any more- her blood had run cold. Father worked day and night for the Fire Nation- how dare she call him a monster! And Mother was afraid of her, too. That hurt worse than the young girl could admit or understand. _

_She slipped from her hiding place and hurried through the palace until she found Father's office. He was sitting at his desk, poring over maps, but when he saw her he smiled and beckoned her close. Azula was the only person who ever saw that smile- certainly Zuko never did. But then, poor Zuzu just wasn't as good at most things than she was. Father bent down to Azula's level, and she told him everything. _

_When she said how Mother had called him- called both of them- monster, he scowled and clenched his hands into fists. But when she was done speaking, he looked her directly in the eyes and said, "I'm glad you told me this, Azula. I know it was hard, but there are some things that you need to learn about life, and the sooner, the better. There are people who say that there are things like good and evil- they are liars. There are only the strong and the weak. You're mother is weak, and you're uncle, and they've made you're brother weak too. But we are strong, Azula. We are meant to rule. The weak fear us, and rightly so, because we will rule over them someday. That is why they call us monsters. Take it as a compliment. Do you understand, Azula?"_

_"Yes," she said. She didn't really, not all of it, but she got the gist of it. "I will be strong." _

_"Good girl." Ozai ruffled her hair. "Now go practice your firebending. I want to see you do it for me tonight." Then he turned back to his work, and she knew that was her cue to leave. _

_She never forgot his words, though, and as she grew older she grew to understand them. She devoted herself to her studies and her firebending, making dead sure that she was the best at everything she attempted. From her father she learned the fine art of manipulation, though she grew more skilled at it than even he- he said she had a natural knack. Some skills she never quite mastered, but she made friends who compensated for her weaknesses. _

_Part of her was still sad the day mother disappeared, but she didn't show it. _

_She smiled the day Zuko was banished, because that meant that her way to the throne was clear. Three years later, she and her friends hunted him across the Earth Kingdom, finally finding him and the Avatar in Ba Sing Se. That was the scene of her greatest triumph, when she outmaneuvered even the Dai Li and their quietly lethal leader, Long Feng. The conquest of Ba Sing Se- cunning accomplishing what mere force could not- was her finest hour. _

_It all went wrong after that. She still didn't remember much after that, until she came back to herself in the institution, in Ki Mong's arms. She had wandered in a dreamlike haze for almost two weeks now, her only company two young peasants. _

_But now, she had returned, and they would see that she was still strong._

#############

Yujin closed her eyes. Azula opened them. The fire entered her soul, never to leave again.

She exploded from her bonds in a hurricane of blue flame, leaping from the ground and landing on her feet with catlike grace. Ki Mong and General Akai paused in their duel, staring open-mouthed at Azula. The princess smiled nastily at them- their time had not come quite yet.

She turned first to Akai's soldiers- Zuzu's soldiers- and blasted them with fire blast after fire blast. Some of them managed to doge or duck- most were sent flying back, trying frantically to put out blazes that had taken hold of them or hastily peeling off superheated armor. One of them was faster than the rest- he came at her, sword and fire both at the ready. As if it had been yesterday, Azula's arms went through the familiar motions- a bolt of lightning sprang from her fingers and struck the soldier square in the chest. He fell to the ground, writhing, and lay still.

"Stay back!" Ki Mong ordered his men. "If you attack her, she'll kill you. Let Akai take it."

"Smart man," Azula whispered, but apparently one of Ki Mong's men disagreed. He raised both hands and launched a fireblast- General Akai and his last Royal Firebender did the same. The superheated energy shot towards Azula from three sides.

She waited for it to come, timing herself just right, then launched into a spin. She caught the flames and spun them up into a funnel, slowly changing them as she did so until they matched the blue hue of her own fire. She stared out at the soldiers from the heart of the fire, knowing that to them she now appeared like a warrior goddess out of some old legend- beautiful, powerful, untouched by humanity or mercy. She drank in their fear for a few moments, and then released the fire. It shot out in a circle, and Ki Mong and his men quickly ducked. Akai and his men weren't so lucky. They tried to block, but were blasted back, burning. They lay still, smoldering.

Azula stepped out of the inferno and stalked towards Ki Mong. The big soldier fell to his knees, as did the men behind him. "Princess," he whispered, "forgive me."

"I'm not the forgiving sort," she said, "but tell me why you were chasing me, and I might let you live."

"I serve Lord General Azun, your cousin," Ki Mong said. "He has seen that your brother is a false Fire Lord, and that he is leading this Nation to ruin. You are the true heir to Sozin's throne and power- I see that now more than ever. Come with me to the Obsidian Citadel, and we will set you upon your rightful throne, _Fire Lord_."

"Rise," Azula said. She had been trained her whole life to seek power- now it lay within her grasp. Could she refuse it? Of course not. It was her destiny to rule, not muck about with peasant's sons and daughters- she saw that now more clearly than ever. It was for this her father had prepared her all those years.

"I accept your offer, Ki Mong," she said. "Let us rest at the inn here for tonight, and tomorrow we will go to the Citadel and my crown."

Ki Mong stood and gestured to Akai and his men, as well as Ling and Joti, who were staring at Azula in openmouthed awe- apparently they had never seen firebending like that before. "What shall we do with them, Highness?" he asked. "Should I have my men keep them imprisoned?"

Azula looked at the fallen general, and knew that his fate was clear. She looked over to Ling and Joti, and felt a momentary twinge of some emotion she did not recognize. Then she shoved it away. A ruler could not afford such childish attachments to her inferiors, even if they had tried to save her. It was only their duty, after all.

"No one can know that I've returned," she said. "Lock them all up in the inn's basement. I'll deal with them in the morning."

Ki Mong bowed. "As Your Highness commands." 


	18. Chapter 17: This is Guilt

**Chapter 17- This is Guilt**

General Akai lay curled up unmoving on the cellar floor. Zuko's general had been badly burned by Azula's attack, and now Joti knelt over him, trying to get him to drink some of the water the guards had left with them. It was a lost cause, at least for the moment- Akai was well and truly unconscious.

Ling sat in one corner of the makeshift prison. He did not watch his sister attempt to help the fallen general; his head was in his hands. His mind was still reeling from the truth of Yujin's identity and the suddenness of her betrayal- and the revealed depth of her firebending power. Ling had never seen anything like the display the princess had given when she deflected Akai's attack- it was far beyond any bending either he or his father could accomplish. He had heard of Princess Azula's reputation as a firebending prodigy, of course, but hadn't given any real credence to the stories- just an arrogant tyrant boosting the ego of his favored child.

Ling knew better now.

Joti gave up on her attempts to make the general drink and came over to sit by her brother. The two sat in silence for several minutes, then Joti looked over at Akai with hollow eyes. "Do you think he'll be all right?" she asked her brother, sounding less like the knowledgeable adventurer and more like a frightened girl looking to her older sibling for comfort.

"I don't know," Ling said. "She hurt him pretty bad, killed his men. I'd never seen anything like it."

"I know," Joti muttered. "And not just the firebending- it was that look in her eyes while she was doing it. It wasn't human- and that was the scariest thing of all. She hurt all those people, but she wasn't even feeling anything, I don't think- not even hate."

"She is broken inside," a dry voice rasped, and Ling and Joti both turned in amazement to see General Akai sitting up and grabbing the water pitcher from beside himself. He was hurting, that much was obvious from the stiff way he moved, but he was very clearly alive. After downing almost the entire pitcher, he turned back to the siblings. "I knew a man like that once, during the war. All the death and killing got to all of us, after awhile- all except him. He didn't enjoy it, exactly, the way some lunatics do, but he didn't feel anything for the people who died, either. They were just statistics to him- not even real. Looking into his eyes was like looking into a pit."

"What happened to him?" Ling asked in horror.

Akai shrugged, then winced. "He finally miscalculated- took on an earthbender bigger and meaner than he was, and got hit by a very large rock for his troubles. We all felt it was rather just- he'd killed more Earth Kingdom citizens than the rest of our squad put together, most of them peasants. But the Princess, she's like that too- that kind that doesn't feel a thing for other people, except when they serve her ends. And she's much smarter and more powerful than my old comrade ever was. That's why we need to get out of here, and get back to the capital." Akai pulled himself to his feet and stumbled towards the cellar door, but Ling jumped up and caught him by the shoulder.

"Don't bother," he said. "There are guards by the door, and you're too weak to firebend past them- and I'm no match for a real soldier."

Akai sighed and settled back down. "Then we wait," he said. "No prison is perfect- no jailer, either. Sooner or later they'll slip up, and then we'll make our move."

############

Azula sat on the bed in the room the terrified innkeeper had insisted on giving her for free, and stared into the depths of the fire that burned in the grate. She should have been happy- more than happy, rejoicing. She was herself again after so long, her power and her reason fully at her disposal. Now she was traveling not with two peasants but with a company of armed and trained soldiers taking her to their lord, who would crown her as the rightful ruler of the Fire Nation.

She should have been rejoicing. But she wasn't.

A strange emotion had seized hold of her heart, and her mind kept flashing back to the looks on Ling and Joti's faces when she had betrayed them. Why this was, Azula couldn't say. They were peasant; she owed them nothing, no matter that they had helped her. Serving royalty was what they were born for- she should have felt nothing at using and discarding them. She never had before. But still, this strange, unwanted emotion would not go away.

_Banish your dark thoughts, princess,_ a voice whispered in her ear, a voice that sounded not unlike her father's. It was so soft that it might have seemed no more than a figment of her imagination, but Azula was alert and more than a little paranoid. She focused on the voice, and then realized its source- the fire.

_Your destiny draws nigh, Princess Azula,_ the voice continued. _Embrace it. You have put aside Yujin- become now who you were born to be! You will force this Nation to serve you, and the world will follow. In time, even the Avatar will bend his knee to you._

"What are you?" Azula asked. She was unnerved by this voice from the flames, but her voice didn't shake. One of the first things her father had taught her was that you should never show weakness in front of potential enemies.

The fire crackled as if chuckling, and strange shapes began to dance in its depths. _I am nobody important, princess- a humble spirit who sees the simple truth- the Fire Nation is the rightful ruler of the world, and you are the rightful ruler of the Fire Nation. My only desire is to see you restored to your throne._

Now Azula laughed, a dark and bitter chuckle. "Really," she said. "Somehow I don't believe you. I don't think you're a spirit, and I don't think you want to help me- I don't even think you're real. There's still part of my memories that I'm missing- clearly something happened to my mind. I think that you're a hallucination, and you should shut up if you know what's good for you." Azula made a flicking motion with one hand, and the fire went out. Sighing, the princess lay back on her bed and decided she should at least attempt to sleep, now that she had no light.

_But I am not escaped so easily, princess,_ the voice whispered in her head as she drifted away. _And believe me when I say that I- and your destiny- am very real._

Azula pulled her pillow over her ears, turned over, and went to sleep.

############

Azula awoke slowly to a strange sensation- something soft and warm was brushing through her hair, back and forth. It was oddly soothing, and the deposed princess simply lay still and luxuriated in it for an unknown length of time. Finally she realized that she could see light through her eyelids- not daylight, she thought, but the warm, flickering light of fire. That thought brought her to full wakefulness- someone had come into her room without permission and lit a fire!- and she opened her eyes and sat up. She saw that the fire had indeed been relit, but also that the soothing sensation had stopped. Azula turned to look behind her- and stopped, staring in astonishment.

A woman sat on the edge of the princess's bed, the hand she had been running through Azula's hair still held slightly before her. She was as regal and beautiful as the queen she had never had the chance to be- even after all these years- and her eyes were kind and wise and sad. Her features resembled Azula's, but the soft kindness of them made her seem approachable in a way the younger woman never did.

Azula had not seen this person for almost half her life, but she knew who she was. "Mother?" she whispered in awed amazement.

Ursa regarded her daughter sadly. "My child," she said, making a motion as if she wanted to hug Azula but knew better than to try. "My poor child. What have they done to you?"

"Mother," Azula said again, unable to believe what her eyes were telling her. "How?"

"You needed me, Azula," Ursa said. "So I came to you."

Azula gave a bitter chuckle. "I needed you. So where have you been all the rest of my life, _Mom_, when I might have _needed you_ then? Oh, I know, you weren't there. So forgive me if I don't take this at face value." She studied her mother's sad face for a moment longer, then noticed other details- although the firelight was bright and flickering, Ursa cast no shadow, and Azula could see the bed and walls very faintly through her robes. "You're not real, are you," she muttered, half accusing, half disappointed.

"That depends," Ursa said, "on what you mean. My body is in the Earth Kingdom, where I was sent in exile by your father as punishment for the death of your grandfather, even though that death won him the throne. But I am with you- I am always with you, if you would only bother to look."

"Whatever you have to say, say it," Azula snapped. "I've had one hallucination already tonight, and that's one too many."

"You stand on a turning point, Azula," Mother said. "You must choose- to continue on the path you have walked your whole life, even if it means your destruction, or to change and save yourself."

"I don't need saving, _Mother_," Azula replied. "I'm doing quite well, thanks. Goodbye, then, and come back when you actually have valuable advice to give me."

"Don't you need help?" Ursa asked. "Look back on your life, Azula, and remember where your path led you." Almost against her will, Azula did so, her mind traveling back along the familiar paths of her life- the younger prince's favored child, the prodigy daughter of the reigning Fire Lord, the champion who brought Ba Sing Se to its knees. After that- darkness.

"Look farther," Ursa whispered. Azula didn't want to see, but some part of her was compelled by her mother's voice and pushed fruitlessly against the dark barrier in her mind. Then, like a dam bursting, the memories of the last few weeks of the war came back to Azula for the first time. Once again, Mai betrayed her, and then Ty Lee did the same. Father remade himself into a god-king and left her behind with a role that was once an honor and now a curse. Unable to cope, she drove away all of her servants and minions, until at last she faced Zuko alone- and the darkness that had always lurked within her soul, which she had channeled for the benefit of her nation and herself, sprang into terrible being. The thing that dueled Zuko wasn't the poised, elegant warrior princess- it was little better than a mad beast.

As the memories faded, Azula fell forward onto the bed and wept. She had always prided herself on control- control of herself, of fire, of others- but in the end she had lost that. She didn't want to admit that the creature from the memory had been herself with all else stripped away- that in the end, she had driven herself to that state. That she had driven away everyone in her life, all by her own actions.

"You were right, Mother," she heard herself say wildly, "are you happy now? I am a monster!" She laughed madly.

Then warm, loving arms enveloped her in a tight embrace, and for the next few minutes mother held daughter in her arms and gave her what comfort she could. Finally Azula calmed and Ursa looked down at her.

"No," she said, "You aren't a monster- not yet. It's not too late. You can save yourself, Azula. What you became on the day of the comet, you need not become ever again."

"How?" Azula asked, looking up at her mother as she hadn't since she was a very small child, during that brief period in her life when she had been truly innocent.

"You have caused pain and suffering to everyone you've met for many years," Ursa said in a tone that understood, but neither condoned nor condemned. "And you have walked a lonely, broken path. Mend the damage, Azula. You can't undo all the damage you've done, but you must try. You have friends."

At first Azula thought her mother meant Mai and Ty Lee, and although a part of her whispered that she had certainly wronged both of them many times over, another part said that Ursa meant someone closer to home. "Ling and Joti, she whispered.

"They helped you, and in return you imprisoned them. They didn't know who you were, only that you were sick and tired and needed them." Ursa's kind, understanding eyes seemed to burn into Azula with an intensity far greater than anything her father's hard and intense ones had ever managed. "You know it was wrong, what you did."

"Yes," Azula replied. She remembered that strange feeling that had filled her after her betrayal. "So that was guilt."

Ursa put her hands on Azula's shoulders and looked her daughter straight on. "Help them, Azula. Repay your debt to them, and you can begin healing yourself."

Azula pulled back and looked up at her mother. "There's more, isn't there?"

"Yes. You know that General Azun's rebellion cannot succeed. The whole Fire Nation will turn against him, and if they fail the Avatar will stop him. But before the end, many more will die, and a new cycle of death and revenge will begin. But you are in a position to stop it- to break the cycle once and for all." Ursa looked at her daughter with a keen gaze. "You know what you have to do."

"I do," Azula said. "But it will be hard for me. I've wanted power my whole life, Mother- you can't understand. I'm not sure I could give it up, even if I wanted to- and I'm not entirely sure I do. I still haven't ruled out the possibility that you're nothing but a disturbing dream."

Ursa embraced her daughter again. "I have faith in you, Azula. You are strong- not because you are cruel, but because you have a quick mind and a will of iron. You can be great- but first, you must learn to love. You haven't yet, but you're starting to learn. But never forget that no matter what your father told you, I _do _love you, Azula, and I will always be with you."

The dream began to break up then, and Ursa drifted away. Azula stretched out a hand towards the mother she had lost and now- briefly- found, but she was too late. Ursa vanished into the dark fog that was overtaking the room. Azula was alone, but looking to where her mother had been she whispered a single phrase that she had never spoken in the waking world.

"I love you too."

############

Azula sat up in bed, gasping as the last strands of the dream faded. But she remembered them with absolute clarity. She doubted she would ever forget.

The deposed princess leaped lightly to her feet and slipped over to the window, opening it and letting the cool night breeze blow past her. She looked down at her hands, and remembered the thing she had become during the final battle, when hate and fear had consumed her utterly. She had driven away everyone she had ever trusted on that day, convinced that they were plotting against her- only to realize that she had left herself alone with what she feared the most. Herself.

"Maybe that dream was right," she muttered. "Maybe love is the answer- or maybe I'm just losing my edge. It's better than going crazy again, at least. Either way, it's not like I have anything left to lose."

############

Ling, Joti, and General Akai sat together in the darkness for what felt like hours. Ling had lit a small fireball for Joti to read her maps by, hoping it would take her mind off their situation, but the girl's heart wasn't in it. Her map of Ba Sing Se lay on the floor, forgotten while she stared off aimlessly. Beside them, Akai was telling a story of an Agni Ki he'd once fought and won against a powerful but impetuous young naval officer named Zhao, but it was clear he was doing it to keep the silence away rather than because he genuinely thought he had an attentive audience.

It was then when the cellar door swung slowly open, letting in the cool night breeze. Ling looked up, and through the opening he saw trees and stars- and something else. Standing there, cold and dark against the moonlight, was Yujin. Azula.

Akai snarled and tried to lunge at her, but his injured body collapsed under the strain. Ling caught him and looked up at the princess with hateful eyes. "Here to gloat?" he asked.

"No," Azula said. "Actually, I'm here to save you. Get out of there, quick."

Ling couldn't believe his ears, but he couldn't turn down such an obvious escape route. He motioned to Joti with his free hand, and she stuffed her map back into her pack and hurried over to Akai's other side. Together they hauled the general out of the cellar and stood in front of Azula. She made no move to help them.

"You're going to pay for my men, girl," Akai spat. "I promise you."

Azula smiled a cynical smile. "Stand in line," she said. "Now listen carefully. The rhinos are on the other side of the inn. Take one of them and go, and don't come back."

"What are you doing?" Joti asked. "I thought you'd teamed up with Ki Mong or whatever his name is. Or was it just a trick?"

"No," Azula said. "I'm still going with him to the Obsidian Citadel to get my crown. But you saved me from Bhan and his thug squad back at Janxing, and I will not live in debt to a peasant. I'm merely returning a favor, nothing more. Now go, before they see you. I sent the guards away and I don't think they suspected anything, but one of them might be smarter than he looks." That said, she turned away from them and hurried out of sight.

"Well, isn't that rude!" Joti said. "She gets us out of prison and then leaves us here!"

"No, girl," Akai said softly, "I think you're wrong. I still hate her for what she did, but I think I may have misjudged her. She wants to help, I think, but she's too proud to admit it. Now we need to take her advice and get going before someone wakes up."

The two young people and the injured general managed to creep around the inn and find the rhinos. Finding one to their liking, they mounted up and were heading in the direction of the capital, leaving the old inn- and the princess- behind them.

From an upper storey window, a soft, feminine voice whispered "Good luck". Then Azula turned away and sat down on her bed in thought. She had plans to make before she came to the Citadel.


	19. Chapter 18: The Gathering Storm

**Chapter 18- The Gathering Storm**

_Zuko hung from the chains, his body broken and bloody. Mai didn't know what Azun's men had done to him- she didn't particularly want to. But it was over now. The Avatar had defeated the renegade general's army and the rebellion was crushed. It was time to get Zuko home, where he could heal. _

_Zuko looked up as Mai reached out a hand to undo his bindings. He smiled slightly at her, and she favored him with one of her own rare smiles as a sign that everything was going to be okay. _

_Then the entire prison assemblage exploded in blue fire. Mai fell back, and looked up in horror to see Zuko consumed by the flames. His golden eyes found hers, and she saw the love in them one last time before the fire swallowed him completely. Then he was gone. _

_Azula strode through the flames, General Azun following a step behind. The princess's eyes reflected the firelight, and she looked at Mai with a pleased grin. Mai's eyes narrowed and she reached into the sleeves of her robes for daggers to throw at her one time friend- but they were empty. She was helpless before one of the most dangerous benders in the Fire Nation. _

_"Did you really think you could betray me and walk away, Mai?" Azula asked. "I thought you knew me better than that. And there's no Ty Lee here to save you this time." The princess's smirk broadened, becoming an expression that no longer seemed to belong on a human face. "Burn."_

_Mai tried to dodge, but her body seemed to have frozen as Azula brought her hand up and released a stream of blue fire. It enveloped Mai and she felt her entire body consumed with agony, and she knew that it would last a long time before she died… _

#############

Mai woke with a start, heart hammering. She knew it wasn't real, but still she was certain that the images of Zuko's tortured form, followed by both of their brutal deaths, would haunt her for Agni only knew how long. And that look on Azula's face as she delivered the killing blow was the worst of all…

Mai glanced out her window and saw that the sun was beginning to rise. Knowing that she would never be able to get back to sleep after a dream like the one she'd just experienced, she rose from her bed and pulled on one of her robes, checking out of habit to make certain she was carrying a full complement of blades.

She slipped quietly through the palace, past sleepy guards and hurrying servants, and came at last to the roof. The Avatar travelled fast on his flying pet and she had been waiting for him for several days now. He should have received her letter days ago, and when he did Mai had no doubt that he would hurry to the Fire Nation as fast as Appa could carry him. After all, Zuko was his friend.

Mai gave a very slight smile as she imagined how the Zuko of just a little more than a year ago would have reacted to that thought.

The sun rose completely over the horizon and Mai paused for a moment, basking in its glow. She was no firebender (Zuko and Azula both said she lacked the necessary passion) and so could not experience Agni's power in a true and direct fashion, but she was still Fire Nation, and the sun was the patron spirit of her people. People expected someone like her to prefer cloudy days, and in some ways Mai supposed she did, but no true child of the Fire Nation could ever hate the sun.

She stood on the palace roof for some time, staring out over the eastern sea, searching for any moving object. She didn't really expect to find anything today, just as she hadn't for the last several days, but it made her feel better than just doing nothing in the palace below. Mai couldn't go to the Obsidian Citadel without the Avatar, but she didn't like feeling helpless.

She finally turned to go down into the main palace when one of the guards came hurrying towards her, a spyglass in his hands. "My lady," he panted, sketching a quick bow. "Take this and look out over the sea."

Mai took the glass and turned back towards the east, looking intently- and there she saw a small black speck in the sky growing rapidly larger. In just a few moments, it had grown enough that there could be no doubt.

The Avatar was here.

#############

The great sky bison Appa landed in the courtyard with a rush of air that sent curious onlookers (in truth, almost the entire palace staff) stumbling backwards. The wind ruffled Mai's hair and robe, but she remained firmly in place as two figures descended from the bison's broad back.

The first was a boy who looked barely into his teens, instantly recognizable by the archaic monk's robes he wore and the blue arrow tattooed across his bald head. A white lemur perched on his shoulders. This boy, however, was the living proof of the fact that looks could be deceiving, for behind his youthful appearance and perpetually cheerful demeanor was a soul that had seen thousands upon thousands of human lifetimes.

Mai had never seen Avatar Aang summon the full power he possessed and enter into what was called the Avatar State- a fact for which she was quietly grateful.

Behind Aang was a somewhat older girl with the dark skin and unnaturally blue eyes that marked the members of the Water Tribes. Katara, the Avatar's best friend and waterbending teacher (and rather more, if the rumors were true), regarded Mai with a cool look that she returned with equal intensity. Katara had never entirely forgiven Azula's one-time friends for aiding the princess in a plot that had very nearly killed Aang. Mai didn't suppose she blamed her.

"We came as soon as we got your letter," Aang said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "We were helping some refugees get settled in the Earth Kingdom, but Zuko's a friend and the leader of the Fire Nation. What happened?"

In her letter Mai had only said that Zuko was missing and needed the Avatar's help. Now she told the entire story of Azun's rebellion and the trick he used to capture Zuko, and of how Azula had escaped and Azun planned to put her on the throne. At the mention of the deposed princess's name, both Aang and Katara's expressions hardened.

"And so we don't have any idea where Azula is," Mai finished, "but we do know where Azun has his base- the Obsidian Citadel. It's an old fortress in the western mountains that's supposed to have been made by spirits. There's an old legend about a curse, and none of the soldiers here are crazy enough to challenge it. That's why I needed you- the Great Bridge between the worlds and all that. If there's anyone who can get Zuko out of that place, it's the Avatar."

"What about Azula?" Katara asked. "She was crazy the last time I saw her, but that just made her even more dangerous. I don't like thinking that she's still out there running around."

"Believe me, I know how dangerous Azula is," Mai said. "I was her 'friend' for years, remember? But she's not a threat to the Fire Nation without support, which is why we have to take Azun down first. Then we can deal with Azula. Besides, Zuko's best general is already after her. He might even have caught her by now."

"Do you know where this Citadel place is?" Aang asked.

"Not exactly. But I know what part of the Fire Nation it's in, and something that big ought to be pretty easy to spot from the air."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Aang leaped onto Appa's broad back, assisted by a puff of air. "We have a friend to help. Come on!"

And so Mai found herself flying into the western Fire Nation on the back of a giant creature that flew without wings, wondering how badly the Avatar would react if she was airsick on his saddle.

#############

Azun was awakened from a dreamless sleep by the call of the flames. Rising stiffly, he crossed the room and knelt before the fire, careful not to look for long at the strange images that danced among the flaming tongues. They were not of this world, things not meant for man to see. He had no desire to go mad before his work was complete.

"My lord," he whispered to the spirit he knew waited in the fiery depths, "what are your instructions?"

_I have news for you, General Azun. _Tonight the Voice was a familiar one- that of Azulon himself, son of Sozin and father of the great brothers Iroh and Ozai. _Ki Mong has been successful. The Princess comes for you- she will be here in days. Soon, the Fire Nation will have the ruler it deserves._

"Excellent!" Azun said. "I knew that Ki Mong would not fail me. Now the Fire Nation shall return to its true path, and the world will finally know peace and order under our rule."

_Indeed. But be cautious, my servant. The Avatar has come to the Fire Nation, and he seeks you out. If he arrives here after Azula, then there will be nothing he can do to stop us- but if he arrives before the True Heir, he could disrupt our plans. My Enemy is… resourceful._

"This could prove a problem," Azun mused, then smiled. "But I have the solution. I still have the poison I used to entrap Zuko. Before it, the mightiest benders- even the Avatar himself- are harmless. Without his powers, the Avatar will be easy to bring down. He may have the spirit of an ancient being, but his body is only that of a boy."

_Indeed, your plan has merit. Still, do not underestimate him. Remember the fate of Ozai! Do you wish it to be your own? _

Azun shuddered at the thought of having his bending stripped away, left to rot in a cell as the bitter, broken shell of a once-great man. "I do not wish that, my lord," he whispered.

_Good. Then you will use caution when the Enemy comes. Now rest, my servant. You will need your strength in the days to come._ The spirit's presence faded from the fire, and Azun rose and returned to his bed. As sleep claimed him, though, his mind still rejoiced with Ki Mong's success, and his dreams were of conquest and destiny. 


	20. Chapter 19: The Temptation of Azula

**Chapter 19- The Temptation of Azula**

The Obsidian Citadel reared up from the ground like a great black talon clawing at the heavens. Looking up at it from the back of her rhino, Azula noted the resemblance it bore to the central spire of the Fire Nation palace, but rather than being reassuring, she found the look of the fortress unnerving on some fundamental level. The Citadel seemed almost a dark parody of palace, the royal home remade in black glass that glinted in the sun.

Ki Mong rode up beside her. "It is impressive, isn't it, Princess," he said, mistaking her fascination. "I did not believe it existed, but the Lord General showed us the way- just as he showed us that you were the true heir of Sozin's dream."

"It is impressive," Azula said. "Is Azun inside? I want to pay my respects to him as soon as possible. It's been too long since I've spoken to my dear cousin." The truth was that Azula had barely spoken to Azun at all during the war- Father found the intensity of his ideals disturbing, and didn't want his daughter anywhere near the man. Still, Ki Mong seemed to practically worship the ground the general walked on, so emphasizing her connection to him seemed the best way to win Ki Mong's loyalty.

The great gates in the citadel's outer wall swung slowly open as Azula and her escort rode up the winding path towards it. Within the courtyard stood the gathered ranks of the Army of the Rising Flame, the tall, lanky form of General Azun at their head. The princess brought her rhino to a halt and slid down from its back, and as she did so the gathered troops bowed to her.

"Welcome, Princess," Azun intoned. "Your kingdom awaits you."

This was what Azula had been missing ever since coming out of her strange trance, even before she had known fully who and what she was. It wasn't adoration, exactly- she'd never really cared about what her inferiors thought about her personally- but it was respect, reverence for her authority and her station. She was royalty- this was what she was born to.

Mentally, Azula shook herself. She remembered her vision- or dream, or hallucination, or whatever it had been- of her mother, and the message it had tried to import to her. Her old life had been a path to self-destruction and she hadn't come here to take what Azun offered. Still, it was hard- after so long, she was jockeying for power instinctively.

"Princess?" a voice asked, breaking her revery. "Cousin? Are you all right?" Looking up, she saw Azun standing at her side, a concerned look on his face.

"I am perfectly fine, General," Azula snapped, pulling away from him. "I am merely exhausted from my journey. You will spare some of your men to escort me to my room." Giving commands was easy- she fell into it as if it had been only yesterday, rather than last year, when she lost her throne.

"I will escort you myself," Azun said. "You are our future, Princess- how could I do less? Ki Mong, have the men prepare. Tomorrow at dawn we will hold the ceremony, and Fire Lord Azula will lead us into our glorious future."

Ki Mong saluted. "At your command, Lord General."

Azun took Azula aside and led her into the twisting corridors of the Citadel. For a long time they walked in silence through the dark halls, but at last the General turned to regard his companion with a penetrating gaze.

"This will be a great day for you, Cousin," he said. "I trust that I may call you that when the men are not in earshot? You should have taken the throne on the day of the Comet- Agni knows that your father and I had our disagreements, but he was the rightful Fire Lord, and he made it clear that it was his will you should rule. I am sorry that your brother took it away from you."

_No_, Azula said inside her mind, _it was Father's will that I rot in a pointless position while he went out and conquered the world- and after all I did for him! He used people up and then abandoned them- and I'm the same way. I never cared about the Fire Nation except for how its glory reflected on me. _

Out loud, she said, "Yes, I should have ruled. But you're going to fix that, aren't you?"

Azun smiled. "Yes, Cousin. The spirits led me to you- one in particular, who I am certain must be no less than Agni himself, the father of all fires. Together we shall topple your brother from his throne, and the Avatar with him. Then the Fire Nation will rule the world, as should have been."

It was at that moment that Azula realized the general was mad. There was something in his posture and his eyes while he spoke so assuredly of conquering the world that said it louder than any insane laugh ever could. He wasn't mad like she had been- he seemed in almost complete control of his faculties- but there was something there nonetheless. Azun's was the madness of the fanatic, the man who had devoted so much of himself to a single cause that it had utterly consumed his life.

Father, who had never felt such passion himself, called fanatics the most dangerous people in the world. Looking at Azun now, Azula had to agree with him.

"We have your brother, Cousin," Azun said suddenly, snapping Azula back to reality. "He will be present at your coronation tomorrow. I thought you would enjoy that, forcing him to watch you succeed at last despite his best efforts."

So Zuzu would be here too- she would become Fire Lord while he watched in chains, and then she would go forth and lead her nation to victory. It was everything she had ever dreamed of- she should have been happy.

But she wasn't.

"Are you sure that you're all right?" Azun asked, studying her concernedly.

"I'm fine," Azula said tersely. "I just need to rest. Are we there yet?"

"Yes," the general said. They stopped by a door that was indistinguishable from the rest of the wall save by the handle and the crack running around the edge. Azun opened it and gestured inside.

"There is a grate inside where you can light a fire," he said. "I will assign some of me men to wait nearby- call for them if you need anything. Now rest. You will need your strength for tomorrow."

"Yes," Azula said as she slipped inside and sat on the bed, "I will."

But she didn't sleep.

#############

Zuko looked up when he heard his cell door open, and snarled when he saw Azun step inside. The General looked happy- Zuko didn't know why, and he didn't particularly want to. After more than a week in this cursed contraption, he just wanted down so he could hit the renegade in the face.

Unfortunately, Azun did not oblige. He stopped in front of the Fire Lord and stood there with his hands behind his back, shaking his head sadly. "It's truly a pity to see you locked up like this," he said. "If you would just promise that you will not try to escape, I would let you down and give you a more conventional cell."

"You know I won't do that," Zuko snapped.

"As I said- a pity." Azun began to pace back and forth, and finally turned back to his captive. "Your sister arrived today," he said conversationally.

"What?"

"Colonel Ki Mong- my second-in-command- brought her to me," the general said. "I believe he rescued her from an inn near Janxing- it seems she'd forgotten who she was and fallen in with two peasants, of all things. Fortunately she is herself again."

"I'm happy for her," Zuko replied in a tone that said he was anything but. Azun regarde him for a moment with intense scrutiny.

"Now then, Prince Zuko," he said, "Tomorrow at dawn my men will gather in the Citadel's throne chamber and I will crown Azula to her rightful position as Fire Lord." He removed the flame-shaped hairpiece that marked the monarch's status from within his armor. "I thank you for providing the crown. In any event, you are to be the guest of honor."

"I knew you were crazy, Azun," Zuko said, "but I didn't realize you were cruel. Do you realize what my sister will do to me when your men are all hers to command?"

Azun arched an eyebrow. "And I didn't realize you were a coward, Prince Zuko."

Zuko shot the general a look that could have melted granite. "I'm not. I'm just trying to appeal to whatever humanity's left in you, _General._ I guess there's not much."

Azun shook his head sadly and turned to leave. As he stepped through the door, though, he turned and regarded the captive Fire Lord with a final, piercing glance. "Remember- tomorrow morning!" Then he was gone and the door slammed shut behind him, leaving Zuko alone.

#############

Azula sat cross legged on her bed, staring into the depths of the fire she had lit in the grate in front of her. Two voices dueled in her mind, each sounding eerily like that of one of her parents. Father's voice burned with ambition and pride (though whether this was with her or himself Azula couldn't say). This voice said that everything she had ever dreamed of was now coming to pass, and all she had to do was stretch out her hand and take it. Did she want to be strong, the voice asked, or weak- like Zuko?

Mother's voice was calm and soothing, though there was an edge of strength beneath it. It reminded her of the dream, and of how close she had come to destroying herself on the day of the Comet. Is that strength, Mother's voice asked, to lose all control over yourself? Is that what you want to happen again?

The voices weren't real- Azula knew that much. They just represented the different forces at work in her mind as she wrestled with her dilemma. She could take what she had always wanted and risk madness, or go against her fundamental nature in an attempt to stay sane.

_Let me help you, Princess_. This voice was real- she recognized it from the night after she regained her memories. This was the spirit that had spoken to her from the fire- and indeed, here too the flames were bending into unnatural shapes. The fire spirit had come to her again.

"You're the one who told Azun he needed me, aren't you?" Azula asked. "You're the one he thinks is Agni."

_You are as perceptive as you are powerful_, the spirit said. _Indeed you are worthy to be Fire Lord of a new age!_

"And what do you get out of this?" she asked. "I'm hardly the Fire Nation's greatest expert on spirits, but I thought your kind prefer to leave us alone unless we're upsetting the environment. Why do you care who runs the Fire Nation?"

_I am an agent of destiny, Princess. You _should_ have ruled the Fire Nation, not your foolish brother. I shall put things to rights, and you will lead the nation to glory. Isn't that what you always wanted? The Avatar is coming here to stop you, but even he will fall._

The spirit couldn't have chosen its argument more poorly. Azula's eyes narrowed as she stared into the flames, trying to get some glimpse of the thing. "I defeated the Avatar once," she said, "but if he defeated my father, he's grown in power since then. And you want me to fight him? I'm not so certain you're on my side at all."

_I assure you, Azula,_ the voice said, _I am not on _his _side!_

"I didn't say you were," she replied. "I don't think you're on anyone's side. I think you just want to watch this world burn- which means you're not Agni, whatever you are. In that case, you have no business ordering Fire Nation royalty like your own personal servants!"

The flames seemed to collapse in on themselves, and for a moment Azula saw a face- androgynous, beautiful, untouched by humanity or mercy. Then it was gone, but the brief vision left the princess shaken. _Without me_, the voice said, _you will face the Avatar and fail. He comes now- but I can save you. Accept my help, and I can make you an empress!_

"I stand or fall by my own strength," Azula said. "Not yours and not Azun's. Get out of my room before I douse you."

The flames calmed themselves, and Azula felt the spirit's presence depart. She sat back on her bed, panting after the mentally draining encounter, but the creature had done her some good. She'd made up her mind.

Azula had a plan, and that always made everything feel better.

#############

The sun was beginning its climb over the horizon when Aang looked down over the sky bison's back and pointed at something below.

The Avatar's excited shout roused Mai from a half doze and she quickly joined him on the side of the saddle to see what had caught his attention. Below them was mountainous terrain- and jutting up from the mountains was a castle made from glittering black obsidian.

"Is that the Citadel?" Aang asked.

"I told you I've never seen the place," Mai said, "But that's definitely a fortress made out of black glass, so probably yes."

"What is it?" a sleepy voice asked, and Katara pulled herself up to sit beside the other two.

"We're here," Aang said, pulling on the reigns to guide Appa down. "Zuko needs our help, and we're ready to give it." Appa began to descend towards the fortress, but as he came closer to the ground he began to veer away, finally landing in the nearby forest.

"What's wrong with him?" Mai asked.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with him," Katara said. "I've seen Appa sick, and he looks fine right now."

"It's not Appa," Aang said in a dull voice. "It's this place. There's something about it- I can feel it, and Appa can too. There's something very evil here."

Mai supposed that if anyone could detect evil it would be the Avatar, but it didn't diminish her urgency to get to the Citadel any less. "If it's so evil there," she said, "all the more reason to get Zuko out. Let's go." She jumped off the bison's back and landed smoothly on the ground, gliding off into the forest.

Katara leaned over next to Aang. "Are you sure you're all right?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," Aang said. "Mai's right. We need to help Zuko." He leaped lightly from Appa's back and glided to the ground, Katara behind him. "Wait here, buddy," he said to the sky bison. "We won't be gone long."

Together Aang, Katara, and Mai slipped through the trees, hurrying in the direction of the Citadel.

#############

In the morning two female soldiers came for Azula bearing a rich robe clearly made to be worn by a Fire Lord- the princess wondered where Azun had gotten it. They dressed her clumsily- clearly they'd been chosen for their gender alone rather than any real skill in the area- but the end result was the image of elegant lethality that Azula had perfected over her years as Fire Lord Ozai's daughter. She did her hair herself- not trusting either of these clods with it- tying off the top into a regal topknot on which the crown would rest. When she turned towards her attendants they both bowed respectfully and led her to the throne chamber.

If the resemblance the rest of the Citadel bore to the royal palace was uncanny, here it was unmistakable. It was made from solid obsidian rather than ordinary stone overlaid with gold, but otherwise it was clearly the same room, down to the last detail. Apart from the wall guards, all of the Army of the Rising Flame was gathered within, Azun at its head. The Lord General was resplendent in his ornate armor, over which he wore a flowing red cloak. His face was largely concealed by his helmet, and a sword hung at his side.

The ranks of the soldiers parted and Azula passed between them, coming at last to stand before the empty throne. Turning back to look at the crowd, she saw Zuko himself near the front. Zuzu was being held in place with much difficulty by two brawny soldiers, overseen by Ki Mong, and the look on his face was purely murderous. It almost made Azula wish that this ceremony was genuine.

Azun came forward, the Fire Lord's crown in his hands, acting here in the part of the High Fire Sage. Azula knelt before him- the one time in the life of royalty when they knelt to another- and the general lifted the crown into the air for all to see, then lowered it onto her head.

"Hail Fire Lord Azula!" he intoned, and the soldiers echoed his words.

"Hail Fire Lord Azula!" the sound echoed through the hall. Zuko snarled in helpless fury.

Azula gave one of the arrogant smirks she had perfected over her life and sat down on the throne, looking out over the gathered army with a critical eye. Azun came forward and knelt, and she motioned for him to stand.

"You are truly our leader now, Fire Lord," the general said. "The spirits led you here that you might rule us, and I hand this army over to your command. What is your will?"

"At this time I have only one command for you," Azula said. She pointed a long finger at Azun, almost directly at the Lord General's heart.

"Arrest him."


	21. Chapter 20: Heart of Fire

**Chapter 20- Heart of Fire**

The entire throne chamber seemed to hang suspended in time as Azula sat on the throne with her finger pointed at Azun, her call for the Lord General's arrest still echoing through the air. The Army of the Risen Flame stood still, the officers looking from the princess to the general and back again, their expressions hidden by their masks. Zuko's mouth was opening and closing in a manner Azula found distinctly like that of a fish. Azun himself, though, seemed almost completely composed, though from where she sat Azula could see the question in his eyes.

"What is the meaning of this, cousin?" he finally asked, his voice carefully neutral.

"Do I need to explain myself to my underlings, General? I don't believe I do."

"Then don't think of it as explaining yourself to an underling," Azun said. "Think of it as explaining your rejection of something you have wanted your whole life to the man who devoted himself to getting it for you!"

Azula sighed. "Very well. Short answer- because it _won't work._"

Azun pulled back. "What are you saying?"

"You seem to be asking that question a lot, _cousin._ I'd think the answer would be obvious- the Avatar has taken my brother's side. Didn't you ever stop to think about that? He defeated my father, the most powerful firebender alive, while he was at the height of his strength."

"You defeated him yourself!" Azun snapped. "I heard the true reports of what happened under Ba Sing Se. You nearly killed him!"

Azula rolled her eyes. "Yes- and if he defeated my father, he obviously became much more powerful- and he's had another year to get stronger. A fully realized Avatar isn't an opponent I'm interested in facing, thank you. I have no desire to be on the losing side."

Azun stepped back from the throne, a storm of emotions crossing his face. "This is not right," he muttered. "This isn't what you promised! You must have known what would happen. Why did you lead her to me?"

Then the Lord General smiled, his eyes burning with feverish zeal. "Ah, yes. I see it now. I was so convinced that it must be Sozin's direct descendant who would realize his dream, but that was never to be. You did this to show me that I alone have the will to lead this nation to its destiny. _I _am the true heir of Sozin!"

"You're insane," Azula said. "Believe me- I know. Now then, soldiers- arrest him. Now."

"No," Azun said in the ringing voice he must have used to issue orders on the battlefield. "She is the traitor- to her nation, to her blood, to her own identity. I am your general still. Arrest her!"

Zuko lowered his head and his body shook slightly. Azula guessed that he found both of his enemies shouting orders while the army did nothing to be rather amusing- she knew she would have in his place. Still, she had more important factors to consider, and kept her gaze fixed on Azun. "They're not going to listen to either of us, you know," she said conversationally. "They've been following you for a long time now, and they seem to think you're some kind of prophet. But you've been prophesying about me, telling them all about how the two of us will lead them to glory- and they believed you. But now were at odds with each other, and they have no idea who to listen to. Looks to me like you did your work too well."

"Then it seems," Azun murmured, "that we must finish this ourselves." Quicker than the eye could follow, the Lord General dropped into a crouch and released a fireblast that shot towards the throne. Azula threw herself to the ground and the blast passed over her, though it knocked the obsidian throne from its pedestal and sent it flying back into the wall, smoldering. The princess was on her feet in a heartbeat, staring at the general with burning golden eyes.

"So it's to be an Agni Ki?" she asked.

"Not a formal one, perhaps," Azun admitted, "but an honor duel nonetheless."

"Honor," Azula scoffed, and then she sprang into motion, sending a lightning bolt arcing towards her cousin. Azun dodged with ease- though no longer young, it was plain that years of campaigning and firebending had kept him in superb shape- and replied with a blast of his own.

Azula knew that Azun was a master- perhaps not on the level of her father or uncle, but he certainly possessed self-control and tactical abilities that many firebenders (among them the late and unlamented Admiral Zhao) sorely lacked. She had known going in that he would be a dangerous opponent, but she was confident of her ability to defeat him. This fireblast that he unleashed now, however, was a wave of flame that was unlike anything the princess had ever seen, except on the day of the comet. She managed to redirect the flames around herself- barely- but she was shaken. Where did he get such power?

The spirit that had spoken to Azula out of the flames must be aiding him, she realized. That would make things difficult, but not impossible. The Avatar was dangerous because he had the powers of all four elements- Azun might be unnaturally strong, but he was still only a firebender, and Azula knew the flames like they were a part of herself. She knew people, too- Azun had a weakness, somewhere, and she would find and exploit it.

Azun blasted her again and again, but Azula deflected the flames each time. The general must be getting frustrated by his inability to hurt her- and yes, the look on his face between blasts confirmed it. Now was the time. "I have a question for you now, General," she said. "You say you're a man who cares about ideals and the will of the spirits- so why do you keep fighting when you know that the Avatar, the agent of balance, is against you? None of the other generals cared about Sozin's dream- and if you think Father did, you're a lot dumber than I ever took you for. So why fight?"

"Because this world needs us," Azun said. "You know that. People are chaotic by nature and need strong, uncompromising rule for their own good. You are royalty- you know this better than most!"

Azula shrugged. "Do they? I'll admit I never bothered to check, and I never particularly cared. Face it, Azun, we did what we did during the war for power and glory. The dream? Nothing but a pretty face Sozin put on it for the masses. And you bought it- hook, line and sinker. You did horrible things because you believed in the rightness of your cause- I've seen your war record. You won more victories for the Fire Nation than any other general except for the Dragon of the West- that was the only reason Father tolerated your dangerous fanaticism. But it was all a lie, wasn't it? Deep down inside you knew that you were fighting for an empire that couldn't care less about order and peace. But you couldn't give it up, because Sozin's dream had become your life. Without it, Azun, you're _nothing._"

Azula knew she'd struck a nerve. Azun howled- a ghastly sound- and fire shot from his mouth and outstretched hands. He wasn't thinking clearly now- this was her chance to strike. Leaping forward, the princess dodged among the columns of flame and struck Azun in the chest with a flying kick. He went down hard.

"Yield," Azula said, looking down at her opponent. The general smiled.

"Never," he hissed and seizing her leg, pulled it out from under her. Azula was back on her feet quickly, but now Azun was as well- and he held a drawn blade pointed at her throat. Mentally the princess kicked herself. She'd forgotten the sword.

"A sword in an Agni Ki?" she asked. "Azun, you cheated! I must admit I'm impressed."

"I said it was an honor duel," Azun replied. "Nothing about a formal Agni Ki."

"Well then," Azula said as she ducked away from the blade and began to call lightning into her hands for a second time, "things just might get interesting."

#############

The soldiers had gathered around the combatants in a rough half-circle, watching intently but not interfering. Honor duels were a respected tradition in the Fire Nation- none of Azun's warriors were terribly interested in intervening in a battle between their leader and the princess.

Still, Zuko found that both of his guards were now concentrating far more on the duel than they were on their prisoner. The Fire Lord waited until he was absolutely certain that the General and his sister had their undivided attention, and then he struck. With his arms held behind his back, Zuko couldn't accomplish any serious firebending, but lighting small flames around his hands was certainly possible. It singed the back of his robes, true (though he'd never much cared for them anyway, now that he thought about it), but it also caused some serious discomfort to his guards' hands.

Both soldiers yelped in surprise and pain, and their grip on Zuko loosened slightly. That was enough. The Fire Lord tore himself from the guards' grasp and struck both of them before they could react, sending them collapsing to the ground. Azula and Azun seemed to be doing a rather good job of taking each other out- Zuko wasn't sure he believed his sister's apparent change of heart, but with the duel going on in the background he felt it very likely he could make his escape. He was certainly no coward, but Zuko knew full well that he couldn't defeat a thousand firebendrs by himself.

The Fire Lord turned to thread his way through the crowd- and found his way blocked by Ki Mong, looking every inch the ruthless Fire Nation officer in his armor and mask. "You're not going anywhere, pretender," the big colonel rumbled.

Zuko dropped into a firebending stance. "Try me," he said. Ki Mong seemed to smile beneath his skull-mask and dropped into a stance of his own as he and Zuko began to circle each other. The Fire Lord was certain that he was a better bender than the big man, but Ki Mong's size and strength would compensate for that. Zuko needed to do this fast and intense.

Ki Mong lunged first, his fist burning with fiery power as he aimed for his opponent's already-scarred face. Zuko dodged aside and shot a fireblast of his own, which the big man caught and dissipated. Ki Mong growled- the sound echoing within his helmet- and struck again with as much physical power as fiery intensity. Zuko was thrown to the floor, but as Ki Mong towered over him he kicked out with both feet, releasing a wave of flame that sent the colonel stumbling backwards.

In an instant Zuko was back on his feet again, striking at Ki Mong with a flurry of fast, powerful blows. Unfortunately, the other man seemed almost made from solid steel and absorbed the punishment with ease. Catching one of Zuko's fists in his open hand, the colonel began to squeeze tightly, while a chuckle rumbled from behind his skull-mask.

"You're good, boy," Ki Mong said, "But you made a mistake. I'm stronger than you, and you let me get a grip. This ends now."

"Yeah," Zuko said, "but not for me." Grabbing Ki Mong's wrist with his free hand, the Fire Lord planted his feet firmly and heaved with all his might. His opponent's eyes widened in surprise as Zuko managed to pull Ki Mong off the ground and send him hurling towards the obsidian wall. With a muffled crunch the colonel impacted and fell to the ground, unmoving. Zuko winced and flexed his wrist, trying to ease the pain that now shot up his arm. Ki Mong was certainly heavy…

Hearing movement behind himself, Zuko spun- and found himself face to face with several dozen Rising Flame soldiers, each holding a weapon or some flames. The Fire Lord scowled angrily and prepared to fight. It looked like he wasn't getting out of here quietly after all.

#############

Mai wasn't given to excessive displays of emotion, but she had to quietly admit that the Obsidian Citadel was impressive. One couldn't get a true sense of the scale of the place from the air, but from the ground it towered above her like some hulking, glossy black monster. She noted the central spire bore a distinct resemblance to that of the Royal Palace, and several of the outlying towers resembled Fire Sage temples. One could almost believe that the place had been built by spirits.

Mai, accompanied by the Avatar and Katara, walked boldly up the pathway leading to the Citadel's main gates and stopped. A guard peeked over the edge of the wall and pointed his sword down at them- Mai thought it a pointless gesture, though it conveyed his general intentions well enough.

"Identify yourselves!" the guard ordered. "What is your business here?"

Aang stepped forward. "I'm the Avatar!" he shouted up to the wall. "I'm here to save a friend!"

Several guards were gathered now, and they all seemed to be pulling something out of their armor. Mai had a sickening suspicion that she knew what they were. "Watch out for the darts!" she warned as the guards raised the blowguns to their lips and fired their poisoned projectiles.

Effective as the paralyzing darts were on the unwary, they proved phenomenally useless on opponents who were forewarned. Katara called a whip of water from out of one of the pouches at her side and used it to strike the darts from the air; Aang spun his staff and the resulting gust of wind sent them straight back towards their owners, who ducked frantically. Mai herself stood back and watched the show- she would be needing all her blades inside.

The guards seemed to realize that their attack had failed- now they were pulling out bows. Aang looked up at them and frowned slightly, then he pressed his hands together and closed his eyes. At first Mai thought the young monk had gone insane- then she saw Katara's face and realized what was coming.

Aang opened his eyes and they flared with brilliant power. A wave of earthbending shot out around the Avatar, causing the ground itself to buckle. The Citadel's walls seemed undamaged- perhaps there was something in the spirit-made obsidian that resisted the bending- but they did rock severely. The guards stumbled backwards, and the wooden gates were torn free from their hinges and collapsed.

"You do know how to make an entrance," Mai observed as she and her companions hurried inside. The courtyard was surprisingly bear of soldiers, except for the guards who were even now hurrying towards the central building in fear. Quick as thought Mai drew a pair of blades and hurled them at the last soldier- they caught him on the sleeves and pinned him against the wall. The Fire Lord's betrothed hurried forward and held another blade to the man's throat.

"Where's Zuko?" she asked.

"Everyone's in the Throne Chamber for Azula's coronation!" the man gasped. "Lord General Azun wanted to make certain that the Fire Lord was there to see his sister take the crown."

"Azula's coronation?" Aang asked, apparently having returned to himself. "Didn't she already have one of those? I thought it didn't go very well."

"It didn't," Katara said. "I was there. But it sounds like we need to get to Zuko fast."

Mai pulled her daggers loose from the captive soldier's clothing but continued to hold him at knifepoint. "Take us to Zuko," she ordered.

#############

Azula and Azun both heard the ground rumble beneath them, and the princess knew what must be happening. "Sounds like you have some uninvited company, _Cousin_," she said.

"I will destroy you, and then I will deal with them," Azun promised. He called up another huge fireblast, but this time instead of releasing it as a huge wave he focused it into a tight beam before releasing it. Azula knew that there was no way even she could deflect such concentrated power, so she ducked beneath it and let it strike the wall behind her. The blast didn't stop there but burned its way through the rock, leaving only a small, neat hole to mark its passage.

Azula moved her hands again through the familiar pattern and channeled the pure, destructive power of a lightning bolt. This time she aimed not for Azun but for the ceiling above him- the lightning blasted several large chunks of rock loose and sent them falling straight towards the Lord General's head. Azun looked up and summoned his fire again, sending it burning through the chunks of falling obsidian, leaving him unharmed. Azula had to admit to herself that she was impressed- this kind of raw power was unbelievable.

Of course, it was all more proof that Azun's spirit benefactor was aiding him.

"Are you sure that's the best you've got?" Azula taunted. "We're supposed to be having a firebending duel, and you haven't even made me break a sweat. I am disappointed."

"No, Princess," Azun replied, "I have barely begun to fight!" He cupped his hands and began to form a ball of fire between them, so intense that it was already beginning to burn blue. This was the first time in her life Azula had seen firebending that matched her own in color (though she'd heard stories about how her grandfather Azulon had done the same in his youth), and she prepared herself to dodge again.

Then the doors of the Throne Chamber were slammed open, and every person in the room spun to see three figures standing there. The first Azula recognized as the waterbender girl who traveled with the Avatar; the second was Mai, knives at the ready. Between them, though, stood the Avatar himself, eyes glowing in the fullness of his power.

#############

In the darkest depths of the Spirit World- places so incomprehensibly alien that even the strongest mortal could not journey there and return with his sanity intact- a being stirred in anger and surprise. Its great Enemy- the Avatar himself- had come to the one place in the mortal world that the spirit's domain touched, the place where it now shared a portion of its power with a mortal pawn. This was not meant to have happened yet- the princess was to have faced the Avatar after accepting her crown, but things had gone wrong somehow. The spirit was not yet ready for this confrontation.

Still, it had many plots and many allies- pathetic Azun and his vaunted army had been only the smallest part of them. The spirit was eternal; it could wait for its vengeance at a later time. For now it withdrew itself to its own domain, abandoning Azun to his well-deserved fate.

#############

The soldiers cowered as the Avatar and his two companions passed between them. Their loyalty to Azun was great, but all had heard the story of the downfall of Ozai, and even now whispers were rustling among the ranks. Did the Avatar need to touch a man to rob him of his bending, they wondered, or would it just take a glance? Either way, they weren't interested in finding out.

From a corner of the room Zuko threw aside a warrior he was grappling with and began to force his way through the ranks. "Mai, Aang!" he called. "I can honestly say I'm glad to see both of you- and Katara too," he added, noting the look on the waterbender's face.

Mai caught Zuko in a tight embrace, then backed off and looked him straight in the eyes. "If you ever get yourself captured again," she said intently, "I'm chaining you to the throne myself."

"What about them?" Katara asked, motioning towards the princess and the general. Azula and Azun stood still, half facing each other, half facing the new arrivals, both looking ready to leap into action at any moment.

Mai drew a knife. "I think we can take both of them," she said.

"I'm not sure we'll have to," Zuko said, to general amazement. "The first thing Azula did after taking the crown was order Azun's arrest, and they've been fighting ever since. I say we let them finish it."

"I think she just doesn't want to share power with him," Katara put in, glaring at Azula murderously. "Or it's a trick. Either way, I don't trust her."

"Neither do I," said Mai.

"You are all traitors," Azun snarled, looking quite mad with his now- disheveled armor and blazing eyes. "You do not understand the glory to which I can lead the Fire Nation- none of you! But I will defeat you all myself if need be. Destiny will not be denied!" He raised his hands again and launched blasts of fire at both of the royal siblings- and then stopped, staring. His fire was no longer blue, but had returned to its normal red-orange- and it seemed to have diminished in intensity as well.

"No!" Azun shouted. "You cannot desert me now!" He looked up to the ceiling and shouted incoherently, shooting off blast after blast of fire- all of it red. Finally he lowered his hands and looked at his enemies with dark eyes.

"It's over, Azun," Azula said. "Your spirit's gone, and without it, you don't stand a chance. Didn't I tell you that you couldn't win?"

Azun looked from face to face, and seemed to compose himself again. "All my life," he said, "I have devoted myself to my nation. I believed in what Sozin declared- this world needs peace, enforced by the sword if need be. Without strong rule, it will all fall back to chaos again- just wait. It won't happen tomorrow, or next year, or maybe even in ten years, but it will happen." His gaze found Aang. "You will be called on again to prevent world war before your next incarnation, Avatar. That I see clearly."

Azun stepped forward and drew his sword again, holding the blade before him with both hands. "Today I see that I am alone in my commitment. The royal house craves only power; my soldiers are too cowardly to intervene on my behalf; even the spirits themselves abandon me when the fight grows hopeless. But I tell you now I will never surrender. I have gambled and I have lost, but I will not become Ozai, sitting powerless in a cell and wallowing in self-pity. When future generations speak of General Azun, good or ill, they will say this at least- he was a warrior to the last!"

Aang seemed to realize what Azun was about to do and made as if to hurry forward, but the Avatar was too slow. Azun looked about himself and allies and enemies and smiled a sad, bitter smile. Then he reversed his blade and plunged it into his own heart.


	22. Chapter 21: Peace

**Chapter 21- Peace **

General Azun crumpled to the ground, a satisfied grin on his face that was so at odds with his sudden death that it made the whole image all the more horrible. Zuko knew that ritual suicide had once been common in the Fire Nation, though it had been largely stamped out by his grandfather and father, who needed to keep enough soldiers alive to fight a world war- one of the few good things he felt his predecessors had done for the nation. Seeing it happen before him, though, was another matter entirely.

Ki Mong arose slowly from where he had been lying and spun towards his enemies with fire in his hands- and stopped dead, staring at the fallen form of his commander. The big colonel gave a strangled cry and collapsed to his knees, tossing his helmet aside so that all could see his tear-streaked face. "Forgive me, my lord," he murmured. "I could not save you."

Zuko tore his eyes from Azun and marched over to Ki Mong, Mai, Aang, and Katara following behind. "Listen," he said, "you're commander's dead, and his deal with my sister fell through. I need to know- are you and your men ready to surrender, or is my friend here going to have to take all of you out before you realize you've lost?" The Fire Lord motioned to Aang, and the Rising Flame soldiers shifted nervously.

Ki Mong glared up at Zuko hatefully. "That won't be necessary," he spat. "We surrender."

A mocking chuckle sounded behind him. Zuko turned and saw Azula, who had removed the Fire Lord's crown and was holding it lightly in one hand, seeming rather amused. "What do you think is so funny?" he demanded.

"Oh, I was just wondering how exactly the four of you are going to escort a thousand or so prisoners back to the Capital all by yourselves," she replied.

In an instant Katara stepped forward and called a long rope of water out of her pouch. It shot towards Azula and wrapped around her wrist, then pulled her back against the wall, hardening into ice as it did so. The deposed princess looked at her binding with a critical eye and shook her head.

"I can melt through this in seconds, you know," she said. "You want to fight me, waterbender? Some friendly advice- wait until the full moon."

"Really?" Katara asked. "The way I remember it, the last time we fought, you were all juiced up on comet- and you still lost."

At the mention of that disastrous Agni Ki, Zuko felt the lightning-inflicted scars on his torso throb- and a look of utter agony crossed Azula's face, brief but unmistakable. With her free hand she tossed the crown at her brother's feet. "Take it," she spat. "Much good it'll do you."

Aang stepped forward and looked at Azula with a quizzical expression on his face. "You were fighting Azun when we got here," he said. "Why? Were you trying to help us?"

Azula gave a single bitter chuckle. "I was helping myself. I knew the fool wouldn't be able to win where my father couldn't, and I wasn't interested in taking sides with someone I knew was going to lose. He disagreed."

"Either way, you can't have thought we'd just let you walk away after everything you've done," Mai put in.

"Right now, I expect all of you to leave me alone!" Azula snarled suddenly, her eyes flashing with a hint of madness. Her bound hand flashed with blue flame, reducing the ice manacle to steam. With a last look at her old enemies, the princess turned and hurried from the hall.

"I'll go after her," Zuko said, but before he could move he felt a hand on his arm.

"I think you need to be here right now," Aang said. "I'll catch her." The Avatar hurried from the chamber, moving with an airbender's uncanny speed.

When he was gone Zuko sighed and looked around himself at the soldiers who had once formed Azun's army. "You know who I am," he said, "and you know who that was who just left. Azun told you that we were your enemies and that we would lead the world to ruin. He also said that the spirits were leading him to victory. He's dead now, which means he was wrong about that- and he was probably wrong about a lot of other things too.

"I know you've done some terrible things that he told you to- but we all did terrible things during the war. I know I did. I can't lock all of you up, and I'm certainly not going to kill you all. Instead, I'm going to give you a choice- you can swear loyalty to me and become part of my army, or you can go to prison. You're choice."

"I will die before I serve you, pretender," Ki Mong said. "Your father must surely be ashamed that he sired such a weak-willed son."

"I'm sure my father's ashamed of a lot of things I've done," Zuko said. "The last year or so, I've been taking that as a good sign." Ki Mong spat, but said nothing.

In the end, a full third of the men refused to swear loyalty to Zuko- the others, though clearly uncomfortable, clearly decided it was better than being dragged off to the Boiling Rock or some equally unpleasant place by the Avatar. Their first task, Zuko said, would be to escort their comrades back to the capital.

"Are you sure this is smart, Zuko?" Mai asked. "They fought against you. Can you trust them?"

"All my army fought against me at some point," Zuko said. "At least most of these men did it because they genuinely believed they were fighting _for _something. But when we get home I'm having Akai split them up and put them in jobs where they can't do any harm."

Zuko turned back to Azun's fallen form. The Lord General seemed smaller than he had in life, a crumpled, broken thing, apart from that ghastly grin. Zuko looked at him for a moment, then bent down and covered Azun's face with his cloak. "Azun served with Uncle at the siege of Ba Sing Se, back when he was still the Dragon of the West," the Fire Lord said. "He said that Azun used to be a good man, but he became obsessed. Of course, that's why Father kept him around- he was totally loyal to the Fire Nation and kept winning battles anyone else would give up on. But I guess it was too much for him, in the end, and it drove him crazy."

###########

Azula stood on the wall of the Citadel, staring up at the sun, allowing its light to bathe her. The sun was the greatest of all fires and the source of a firebender's power- she could feel its presence in a way few others could, though she'd heard that waterbenders had a similar relationship with the moon. For now the sun's light helped her hold the torment inside at bay. When fighting Azun, everything had been so _clear_ and focused- now she felt she was losing control again. Azula certainly hadn't intended to blow up at her brother and his friends like that (though the unnerved looks on all their faces was almost worth it.)

Her dream (or vision) of her mother had explained that her life had been a path to self-destruction and she needed to change to save herself. _Well, Mom,_ Azula thought, _I did change. I used power to help the Fire Nation and stop Azun- and if anything I'm feeling worse._

Azula heard footsteps behind her and spun around, thinking that Zuko had followed her- but it was the Avatar. He smiled at the princess like they were old friends rather than bitter enemies and lightly hopped up on the obsidian battlements.

"I don't want to talk," she snapped. "Certainly not to you."

The Avatar shrugged. "That's okay," he said. "Do you mind if I just sit here for a while?"

Azula realized that nothing she could say would dislodge him, and was reasonably sure that if she moved he'd just follow her, so she said nothing. For a long time neither of them spoke. Finally, though, Azula could take it no more. She turned to the Avatar and said, "Why are you here? You obviously don't want to gloat, and there's no way you can pretend we're friends."

"Maybe you're right," the Avatar replied, "but your brother attacked me a lot more times than you did, and in the end I was able to win the war because I learned to think of him as a friend."

"I'm not like Zuzu, Avatar," she said. "Ask anyone who knows us. He's the fool with the honor fixation- and I'm the monster." Azula fully expected the Avatar to agree with this assessment. After all, she _had_ killed him once, under Ba Sing Se. But his words surprised her.

"I don't think you're a monster," he said.

"Then you clearly haven't been paying attention."

He looked at her, then, with that gaze that managed to hold both a child's carefree innocence and the wisdom of centuries. "I don't think there are very many people who are monsters," he said. "The monks always said there was good in everyone, even if it was buried deep down inside. I think you're lost, and you're hurting a lot, and I just want to help."

"Help here having the meaning of 'send you back to Zuko's little madhouse?" Azula asked. "Sorry, I'll pass."

"No, I mean help," the Avatar said. "If there's one thing I learned from Zuko, it's that it's never too late. You could keep acting like you did during the war, but that would just lead you back to where you started- locked up. Or you can try and change and turn your life around."

Azula shivered. That was almost exactly what her vision of her mother had said. Then she shook her head, logic returning. "I tried that," she said. "I took down Azun, maybe helped stop a civil war, but I still feel like a barrel of blasting jelly that could go off at any minute."

"I didn't say it would be fast or easy," he said. "It takes a long time to change, and sometimes it hurts."

Azula laughed. "Oh, and you're one to talk. What would you know about any of this? You were probably born a little goody-goody."

He looked off into the distance. "When I'm in the Avatar State," he said, "I sometimes feel like I'm being pulled apart. I can hear the voices of all my past lives, and they're all telling me different things. It's hard to control, sometimes. But I did learn how to control it, and I think you could too." Then his gaze snapped around, and he looked down into the courtyard and saw Zuko, Mai, and the waterbender coming. He jumped off the wall and rode a puff of air down to them.

"Well?" Zuko asked.

"I don't think she's dangerous," the Avatar said. "At least, she doesn't mean to be. But there's still something kind of scary about her, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah," Zuko said. "I do. And I don't trust her."

"I am not going back to that asylum, Zuko," Azula shouted down at him. "If you try to force me, it won't end well." She flexed her fingers and sent blue sparks dancing down them.

"Well, you can't just let her go, either," Katara said. Mai nodded in agreement.

Zuko looked at each of the three in turn, and then hung his head. When he raised it, Azula could tell from the look on his face that he'd reached a decision. "Azula," he said, "Aang says he doesn't think you're dangerous anymore- I don't agree, and I don't think you do either. But you did help defeat a traitor who could have sent the Fire Nation back into civil war if he'd lived. You will return with us to the Capital, and you'll be stripped of your authority." Azula's fists clenched, but she resisted the urge to interrupt. "You will be allowed to live there under guard- and if you try to escape from that, Aang can do to you what he did to Father. Do you understand?"

Azula jumped down from the wall and landed lightly. It wasn't the freedom she'd hoped for, but it was better than she had right to expect- and certainly better than the alternative. The thought of losing her bending sent a thrill of horror through her body. "I understand," she said.

Zuko and Mai turned and went back into the Citadel, leaving Azula alone with the Avatar and his waterbender. The girl looked at her suspiciously, but the Avatar himself seemed to have become fascinated by the structure around him. Of course, as the Great Bridge between the mortal and spirit worlds, the Citadel probably spoke to him in ways an ordinary person couldn't understand.

Ignoring Katara's suspicious look, Azula walked over to stand beside Aang. "You said you learned to control the Avatar State," she said. "How?"

"I can't really explain it," he said. "But in the end, I guess you just have to know yourself well enough to find peace."

Peace. It wasn't something Azula had ever been interested in, beyond the peace of rigid control. Somehow, though, she felt this was very different, and something she was far from achieving. Still, there was no challenge yet in her life that Azula hadn't been able to overcome in some way. She didn't doubt she could cross this hurdle too, given time.

She could do no less. Her sanity was on the line.


	23. Epilogue: Spirits

**Epilogue- Spirits**

"I'll admit she did better than I expected."

The other spirit, who wore the form of a tall, handsome man who glowed golden with some inner fire, turned to face the speaker. "She did what she did for herself," Agnir, the spiritual embodiment of the sun, replied. "But she had realized now that the path her life had taken was no longer capable of sustaining her. It was enough to save her from him- this time."

The old man shook his head. "This time," the spirit who had once been an Avatar named Roku whispered. "So you're certain of it, then? He's not giving up, even though my great-granddaughter is lost to him?"

"He can't give up," Agni said. "His existence is on the line. And he may yet find a way to turn Azula to his cause before this is done. They are very alike in some ways. Of course, that is to be expected, considering exactly what he is."

"I warned Sozin," Roku said. "I told my old friend that he was shifting the world out of balance, but all I accomplished was that he made certain I was dead before embarking on his war. He tried to break the Avatar Cycle by destroying the Air Nomads- and that atrocity still echoes in both worlds."

"Yes," Agni replied, looking out over the verdant jungles of the Spirit World. "The worlds are connected- Sozin was a fool to think his actions wouldn't have consequences. I'm certain you're familiar, Roku, with the ways in which 'small' upsets of the balance, such as the destruction of small parts of the environment, can cause even friendly nature spirits to become monsters. What the Fire Nation started with the Air Nomads and continued for a century was far worse. You warned Sozin- I warned my Fire Sages. But they wouldn't listen, and then it was too late."

Agni turned to look at Roku with his gaze that burned like stars. "If even the smallest disruptions of the balance can create horrors, what of a century of war? He was born from the fires of the Air Temples and nurtured by a hundred years of conflict. For all that time he was quiet, basking in light of human evil, but no more. Peace has been restored, and the power that fuels him is slipping away. Now he is putting forth all his power to ensure that the mortal world falls back into chaos- and you know that when it does, it will take this world with it."

"Leaving him alone ruling over nothingness," Roku finished.

"We have our own duties here," Agni said. "We cannot abandon them, no matter the cause." The sun-spirit waved a hand and multicolored flames sprung up before him, forming into the images of mortal humans. Roku saw his successor there, and all of his friends, and the princess, as well as other, less defined figures. "It is in their hands now," Agni said. "May their strength be enough."

"It will be," Roku said. "It must be."

NOT

THE END

************

First off, I'd like to thank everybody who's read and/or reviewed this story for doing so- I really appreciate it. Second, although "Heart of Fire" ends here, the story doesn't- this fic was intended as the first of a trilogy focusing on Azula, and the first part is now complete. In the next installment (untitled as of yet, though I'm pretty sure it will be something "of Fire") we'll be going with Azula to the Earth Kingdom and see some canon characters we haven't run into yet- Ozai, Iroh, Ty Lee, Long Feng, and others, plus some new OCs. Thanks again for reading, and if you're interested in continuing with this storyline, check back in a few days for the prologue of story II.


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